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Ok, I've updated TyrLite and you can now use your skybrushes to cast sunlight in an arbitrary direction - pretty cool if I do say so myself =P. You can check out the new version on the utils page.
On the new deathmatch map - I'm having thoughts of making it into a Quake3 map, but I'm still not sure. I just got the game today so I'm still making my mind up. The style of the game overall just feels really cool - I love the feel they have created with the new texture set and all those shaders look pretty damn cool too. The intro cinematic was a nice touch =)
Oh yeah, I just got inspired the other day and drew some (more) sketches of some ideas for an OUM map. Damn I gotta get some of this stuff into the editor real soon! Hell it's too hot to do anthing but sit in front of the computer anyway.
Well exams are over, and they went ok - no distinctions or anything but I got through which is enough for me since I'm so sick of uni right now. I've spent the last week doing nothing useful whatsoever and enjoyed it immensely =). Checked out a few movies, the most notable being 'Fight Club'. That has to be one of the best movies I've ever seen! - recommended =)
Yesterday, however I spent most of the day in the editor and my 6th DM map is on it's way. The layout feels killer, but there's a lot of work to do yet to get it looking good. It's primarily a 1on1 map, but it looks like it will also work well up to 4 or 5 players as well. I'm pretty excited about this one, but I'm struggling a little to find the right texture set...
I started working on adding a few extra features to TyrLite including the use of a mangle key to set spotlight direction and 'anti-lights'. I'm also going to try to add some extra information to some of the error messages to help authors track down map bugs. These features shouldn't take long, so I'll probably have at least some of them done in a couple of days (depends how much time I spend mapping instead ;)
A whole month gone? Better post a quick update then ;)
Not a whole lot to report since the vast majority of my time is still taken up with study - but only 12 days to go! Arghh! I can't wait =). What I have been doing is drawing out a couple of ideas on paper for my OUM map. I've got some interesting stuff there which is going to be fun trying to put into the editor. I tried a few things with rotating entities - which I hadn't used before - and that gave me some ideas as well.
Other than that, I have had a bit of a play with QERadiant in preperation for Q3A mapping. It looks like quite a nice editor - the main thing I noticed was the speed difference I got compared to my usual editor (BSP), since I was able to use the OpenGL acceleration of my TNT. Very cool.
There was one other thing to say, now what was it... no I don't think there was after all. Hmmm. After a while you run out of things to say when you keep updating your site with news about nothing...
Hello again, did you miss me? No, I thought not =). Well, I'm sort of back now - I don't really have the time for this stuff, but I'm gonna make the time, damnit. I can't beleive that I've been working 12 hour days for the last 4 weeks and I'm still catching up on my course work. Still, the lure of Quake and the unholy editor becomes too much eventually ;)
I suppose I've missed out on a fair bit of news around the place, although I've tried to stop by the Qboard when I can. Speaking of which, there's an interesting thread over there where a few people have posted pictures of themselves. So if you ever wondered what mappers look like, have a look (and no, my picture isn't up there... yet).
It looks like Gonzo has finally released Warfare 3 - Nubian Chicken Sexer. I haven't seen or played the final version yet, but I did see a couble of the beta versions where Gonzo was having trouble with compile errors, and I can tell you that the map looks damn sweet.
The festivally plump Fat Controller has been on to me about my OUM map, which is obviously not making much progress. Luckily for me the rest of the project seems to be going just as slowly, so I don't feel quite so bad about having contributed so little so far. Despite all these delays, the project has not been cancelled and is still in progress.
There is another Q1SP project on the brew - The Nehahra Project. I was approached to map for this project, but unfortunatly didn't have the time (and still don't). I got to see an early version of some of the new AI/monsters/weapons and I was really very impressed. Keep an eye on this one.
I finally got around to adding Rvis+ to the Utils page. If you haven't heard of it before; it's a version of the rivs program by Antony Suter, which I modified to add a progress indicator to give you some idea of how much of the vis job is left to go.
That's about it. I'll probably be spending some small amounts of time mapping over the next 3-4 weeks - after that I'll have to concentrate on my exams. Here's what I'm doing - Number Theory, Coding and Cryptology, Fields and Geometry, Computer Networks, Advanced Programming Paradigms and Operating Systems. The computer science subjects are actually quite fun and rewarding but the pure mathematics can be a bitch. Maybe I'll actually have some news on my own mapping work next update... we'll see.
You've probably all noticed that I've been spacing out my updates a little more than usual lately, which is simply because I have little to say. I've done very little mapping in the last 3 weeks due to a neverending (almost) stream of assignments/projects due at uni (I know, I know, I should stop complaining about that here =P ). Unfortunately things might stay this way for a while yet, so I wouldn't expect a lot of updates any time soon. The positive side is that I'm stocking up on some cool ideas, as soon as I do get some free time, I'll be hard to stop =).
I missed this earlier in the week, but it appears that Moonlight Assault has been selected as this weeks Q1SP Level of the Week. So if you haven't yet (shame on you! =P), go take a look and then grab a copy of the map.
I've been away for a little while, and it seems that TeamShambler has taken up the job of selecting a Level of the Week here on planetquake. Make sure you check out his recommendations each week.
Well, I'm a bit late off the mark with this, but I wanted to mention that Fatty has released a new deathmatch map entitled 'Ministry of Love'. I had some fun testing this one, and it comes recommended. You can get from his page.
Thanks to all those people that mailed with their thoughts on Moonlight Assault, it's nice to know that you had fun with it =). There's nothing really worth reporting on my current maps at this time. I'm working on two new single player maps as well as one deathmatch. These will likely progress quite slowly though, since deadlines are fast approaching for many of my uni subjects (*sigh*). Later.
At first it seemed like a case of really bad timing, when Mr Shambler thought he wouldn't be around this at all this weekend to review the 'feast' of single player maps that coincidently all got released at the same time. Well, it turned out that his plans fell through so, if you head over to the TeamShambler website, you'll find reviews of 3 new releases: 'Runners Delight Episode', 'Castle Gothgola' and my very own 'Moonlight Assault' =).
I've decided to take the rest of the week to focus entirely on my course work at Uni, since I have a bit of catching up to do. If I get everything done, I'll be starting this weekend on my map for the Fat Controller's Operation Urth Majik project. This is gonna be a lot of fun =). I'll also be having a look back at the beginning's of a 6th DM map that I laid down a little while ago.
Oh, don't tell anyone, but I've also begun woking on a secret little side project. I'm not going say anything much about it for quite some time, because it will take a long time, and may not actually amount to anything anyway. What I will say is that it is something new for me, and it is mapping related. So why did I mention it now? Well, I wanted to say something, but... ermm... I think I'll just shut my mouth now. =P
Well it's been a long time coming, but it's finally done. So, without further ado, I present to you: 'Moonlight Assault' - my latest Single Player Quake creation. Enjoy.
On a less Quake related note, I'm moving house tommorow. Things have supposedly been set up at the new place for me to have access to the net straight away, but if I disappear for a few days or so, that'll be why.
The second beta test has come and gone, and I've got the map pretty much the way I want now. I'm just going to run the final compile when I upload this update, then I'll probably release the map tommorow.. err, tonight (it's now 12:30am, Friday).
The map will be titled 'Moonlight Assault' and Vigilante was kind enough to write me a background story to include in the text file - but here it is a little early to get you started:
"We are taking a few hours break now. My feet are burning, as we just walked for over eight hours. I'm not sure how Jones can manage though. He's in pretty bad shape, but the lieteunant is pushing us forward. He thinks that even this is a waste of time. He says that we should be nearly at the pickup already, but that's just madness. It would take at least two days for a troop to travel from the valley to the pickup. And yet we have managed to get this far, on foot, in 32 hours. And not only that, but we have had all the wounded to carry. There is a great deal of walking to be done though, until we can reach the hills now seen on the painfully distant horizon. I just hope that our ship hasn't arrived at the pickup already and left us stranded down here. But as I haven't had the time to write anything in nearly a week I might clear some things up. Especially why are we here. I can't beleive it has been five days already, it feels like it happened just few hours ago...
We have had troubles ever since the initial landing. I hear that the commanders didn't have much faith in our side's ability to penetrate the castle to begin with. Our chances of actually finding the rune and escaping alive were even worse. Doomed right from the start. First the pods from Mickey's squad deviated at least 15 klicks from their assigned location, landing the whole squad in a distant swamp. We managed to keep radio contact for only a few hours. Captain Rodgers didn't tell us what had happened, but I think we all knew that it was just as well. The day after that our camp was assaulted by a pack of fiends. They broke through the outer barrier in a matter of seconds, hitting our main encampment. Eventually we managed to drive them away, but with considerable casualties. Many worried wispers made there way though the camp that night, after the attack. The men knew it was unusual for fiends to appear in such a large pack, and to seem so organised in their attack as well.
And still our bad luck continued. Two days after that a large contingent of Quake's troops ambushed us while we were traveling. We had come to a narrow pass between two steep hills. Captain Rodgers sent scouts to the hills, but they never came back. The lieteunant still wished to travel that way though, as it was the fastest way to the castle we were supposed to siege. Our long line was cut in three parts, the last one totally annihilated in a few short moments. I was in the leading squad, and we kept our ground pretty well, until one of the grunts got a lucky shot at Captain Rodgers. After that our lines broke. Then the lieteunant ordered a retreat. A few groups made it back from the 2nd and 3rd ranks, and strengthened our numbers. But most of the force didn't manage to break through The Horde. The lieteunant kept our lines together, and we succesfully escaped the ambush. It was obvious that we couldn't siege the castle with these numbers, although Ensign McKenzie wished to take a few volunteers and still proceed to the objective. I was very surprised when the lieutenant agreed.
Well, we kept radio contact for only a couple of days. Ensign McKenzie's small squad was against vast odds, and it wasn't long before they had been all but obliterated. There were some distorted messages that said one of the men had fought very bravely, keeping the squad alive and planning the attack even after Ensign McKenzie's death. We didn't get his name, but I believe he was their last survivor.
After that we got to a beautiful valley. I'm sorry that we couldn't stay there for long, as it was a welcome change from the seemingly endless wastes, but we had to get to the pickup as fast as we could. The lieteunant kept us going 20 hours each day, giving us only two two-hour breaks. There was more waste to cross, but not anything like the first. Soon enough we had entered another valley where we stayed a while, bandaging our wounded and burying the dead. We had some time to prepare, but the first of the Horde was closing in behind us.
Fortunately they didn't attack in great numbers, seeming disorganised, and they were easily defeated. 32 hours after leaving the valley, crossing another blasted wasteland, our goal was in sight. Somewhere in the hills on the horizon was the pickup point. With over two thirds of our force wiped out, there was no hope for us to regroup and return for the rune. Ensign McKenzie's squad had given us something to hope for while we concentrated on getting the rest of our force back to saftey, but even the strongest of us cannot place that hope on one lone surviver...
It is 5 minutes to departure now. We had just reached the beginnings of the hills when we stopped to rest. The scouts are just returning now, and they've brought bad news. There is a large force directly in our path. By the looks on their faces I am not sure if we can reach the hills in time..."
- John "Cannonball" Velasquez, last journal entry
You will play the part of the lone surviving soldier from Ensign McKenzie's suicide party. It's up to you now to take on the forces guarding the castle and retrieve the rune single handedly... (isn't it always up to you? =). See you soon.
The first round of beta testing has gone pretty much as I expected, making little changes to the amount of ammo and health in certain areas of the map. The other main point that my testers raised was the fact that the texture set is pretty small, which takes away a bit from the otherwise impressive architecture. The main reason I had for doing this was to save space in the bsp file, but with my most recent optimisations I've managed to make some more space and I've hopefully improved this situation a bit.
This brings up one of the things that have made this map very hard to make. Normally the only real tradeoff a mapper has to decide on is a perfomance/looks kind of thing. In this map I've had all sorts of other tradeoffs to make, since having everything I wanted would cause errors in the map.
Anyone else who is considering making a huge Quake1 map should think carefully before starting because there are undoubtably a million problems you will face that you didn't even think existed. I know that I'll be considering making several smaller maps instead, next time a vision so grand comes to my mind =).
With any luck (and I think I have some coming to me ;-), I'll have the map done and released within two weeks. So I'll (probably foolishly) give myself a deadline of August 15th.
Well, it's been a tough week, optimising the map to stay just under the limits allowed by Quake. I've had some pretty obscure errors too. Anyway, the first beta is compiling right now and as long as there is nothing seriously wrong with it, when it's done I'll hand it over to my testers. It's gonna be good to actually get somebody else's opinion on what I have done because it's taking so long to get the damn thing done =)
Actually, I had three friends over last weekend and they all had a go. Even though the map was severely lacking in ammo at the time, they all said it was great fun. And it was cool as hell to see them jumping in their chairs as a monster unexpectedly whacks them in the back of the head. Hehehe.
I'll update again once I get some feedback from the testers. Later.
Well, I've got all of architecture in place now as well as a finalized the main route through the level (as well as plenty of shortcuts possible for those skilled enough ;). Today I've been going through the level trying to better balance the ammo/health/armour/monsters for the hard skill setting. It's all looking pretty good and I'm tweaking the lighting and other details as I go.
The current brush count stands is about 4700 (!) and with 4 hour compile times, a lot of guesswork is involved working out the item/difficulty balance between compiles. While building the map, I even had to compile a special version of TyrLite to handle the huge number of planes and surfaces in the map.
All being well, I'll be looking at sending out a beta (of the map) to a couple of people this week. Oh, and please don't ask for the beta, I already have some people in mind. If I need more testers, I'll let you know.
I've been working pretty solidly on the map the last few days, and I've managed to get around the limitations I was struggling with last time. So now I'm just working on the ending and after that I just need to fill in the other skill settings (I've only been doing hard skill so far) and get some people to test it.
I can't believe that I started working on this map January! Not that I've been working on it all this time - uni keeps me pretty busy - but still, it's a long time to have a map in the works.
I'm grappling with some errors in the map at the moment. Because I've been trying to cram so much into the map, I'm going very close to a lot of the limitations built into the Quake engine. I may end up having to split the map into two seperate maps, but I don't want to do that.
Because of the way I've tried to make the map not feel too linear, there is no obvious place where the map can be split as the player's path winds back on itself all over the map. So if I end up needing to do that, it will mean more delays still because I will have to redesign most of the flow through the castle. (Sigh).
I've started tossing around a few ideas for the layout of DM map number six. Nothing solid yet but I should start work on that soon (but the SP map has priority right now).
Hi all, just a quick update to let you know I'm now back on the job. Exams are over... for now - I got sick half way through, and wasn't able to attend my last two exams, so I'll have to re-sit them later :(
For those of you who have been frequent visitors of Peej's and/or Frib's page(s), you may be pleased to know that they have decided to join forces:
After our efforts to provide the custom map community with up to the minute news, views and rants, myself[Peej] and Frib have decided to combine efforts to create the ultimate news source for the custom map scene.
These guys know their stuff, so go pay them a visit at Peej 'n' Frib's - Custom Quake Map News & Banter.
First order of business today is to tell you about Damaul's latest single player map, Bestial Devastation. Dressed up in the texture set first used by Headshot in his deathmatch map Dead Bodies Everywhere, this map has a feel that hasn't been seen before in a single player map - as well as being an absolute blast to play. Stop messing about and head over to Damaul's place and grab it (make sure you read the *important note* while downloading the map).
Also released recently was Bal's latest DM creation, Scrap Metal. I haven't had the chance to play it properly yet, but I took a quick run through. The open layout of the 'main atrium' reminds me of Jvox's Jackie Brown, but this map has it's own original look and feel, with a brand new texture set as well. Highly recommended =).
Hmmm, what else... ah, there's been a few more mappers moved to planetquake since my last update: Fat Controller, Fresh Team, Hot Cakes and Ogro. And there's more to come from what I hear!
Unless something exceptional happens that I just have to report, I won't be back here to update for another ten days (June 30th). Just four exams to go...
Well, it looks like I had some 3000 people through my site with that mention on pic of the day - Hopefully a few of you found something you liked an will continue to drop by =). I made a couple of small adjustments to the page - I removed the borders from the news headings and messed around with the left frame a bit to make it behave a little better in Netscape at higher resolutions.
I haven't touched my editor since last update - I've got my head buried in the books, studying for exams right now - so there's no progress to report. Quite a few of my fellow mappers have made the move to PlanetQuake recently, the newest additions being Excessus, Cheshire, Aardappel, Vondur, Ninja, Damaul and Wrath. All the links on my err... links page should be up to date now as well.
Well I got the offer to move my site to planetquake so I took it. Then I figured, what the hell, I may as well do a bit of a redesign (it seems to be the trendy thing to do these days anyway) and here it is. I'm quite proud of the artwork, which I managed to do by myself. Let me know what you think or especially if I messed anything up.
For those of you who don't know about me, I'm Tyrann - Quake mapper extraordinaire (well, extraordinaire might be pushing it :) You can find out a little more about me by looking in the about section of the site. If it's maps you're after, then head on over to the maps page and have a look around there. If you're a mapper yourself, you should probably go to the utils page and have a look at my fancy light program :)
Currently I'm working on a medieval style single player map which I have said should be release early next month (when I get some holidays to finish it). If you poke around in my archived news you should find a few screenshots of this map which I have posted along the way.
Once that map is out the door, I'll be focusing my efforts on the OUM Single Player Project being run by the multi-talented Fat Controller.
Of course, with all this single player madness surrounding me I probably won't be able to stop myself starting a new deathmatch map ;)
I've been trying to think of something I could update my page with but really I haven't got anything to say 'cept that I'm still working hard... I have exams coming up soon, so expect me to disappear for a couple of weeks for that.
I've been stacking a few more monsters and stuff into my map and I'm quite surprised at how much fun it is to play so far! I was starting to worry that after all this work building the structure, the map might not have the gameplay to match, but it's shaping up quite nicely =).
Exams finish up at the end of June, and after that I have three weeks holidays (yay!). After all my promises, I *have* to get this map finished by this time and I'm pretty confident about an early July release. (If I told you late June, that's just because I stuffed up my exam timetable, sorry.)
The mapping scene seems to have been a little quiet of late but you can find catch up on pretty much anything you missed between Frib's and Peej's pages. One thing of interest that I saw on the Qboard was that Mattias Konradsson (aka Preacher of Aerowalk fame) is currently involved in a big project for a site 'leveldesign.com'.
One of our main missions will be push for authors and maps. To provide a channel through which we can make things a bit more "official", wish us luck :)
Good luck mate! Apparently they are hoping to launch the site 'this summer' which I think is late winter here in Oz. Sounds pretty good to me.
After about 6 weeks absense, the map making machine known as Mr. Fribbles is back, and he's brought with him, not one, not two, but 3 new maps!! They are efdm9 - Tangerine Dream, efdm10 - WhiteChocolateSpaceEgg and efdm11 - Maelstrom. I've got no time for elaboration, but all these maps are beautiful so make sure you get them all =).
Ok, here's that final 'preview shot' I promised...
And now it's back to work for me.
Early this week, the Win32 version of the Q3test was released. I've got two words for you - LAN Party =). Ok, so it wasn't that much of a party, there were only 3 of us, but it was very cool. Once everyone had gotten used to the feel of the game, we had some really fun games. The 2nd map in the test is an absolute blast in FFA and it's not bad for a bit of a fun 1on1 game. You can get some unbelievable railgun shots on this one. I never liked the railgun in Q2, but it fits in with this map perfectly. This game seems to feel better all the time.
I've been working on my map most of the weekend, but I don't really have anything new to show you right now. I think I'll post one last screenshot later this week to keep people interested (yeah, like they're interesed now ;)
...or lack thereof. I've been working like crazy all this time, and I've only had a few spare hours to work on my map. I'm still making progress, which is the important part. My editor is grinding to a halt now under the size of this map due to lack of memory (and I have 128MB!). Hopefully I'll be getting a bit more money soon from all this work I've been doing and I'll buy some more memory to speed things up a bit.
What else has been happening? Well two excellent maps have been released - on the same day I believe. The first of these is from Peej, the next in the 'strafin' series entitled strafin6 - Quake Addiction. The second is from Pingu called Return to Atlantis. Stop right now and just download both these maps.
I've been told that I'm allowed to feel smug now. Head on over to Multiplayer Quake and have a look in their top 10 reviews section. I think you can see where this is heading... ;)
Q3A test for windows should be available later tonight...
While I've got a spare minute I thought I'd do a little update. Vigilante sent word that he has a review of EDC on his page, so have a look at that...
LinuxQuake3. What can I say? This game is awesome. I've been playing a bit on a few servers I could find around here and I'd have to say this is one addictive game.
The whole thing just works beautifully. The player models are easily the best I've ever seen - no more skating when you run and shoot. The sound FX deserve a special mention. These are really bass intensive and you just have to play this game with some decent speakers hooked up (the shotgun sound is my fave ;). I can't wait for the win32 version to be released so I can get this baby going on my TnT =)
The networking code is very good at hiding the effects of lag. Most of the servers I played on, I had a ping of about 550-600, which felt about the same as 300 in QW. There does seem to be a few problems with it though. When more than 3 players were in the map I seemed to be getting about 30-40% packet loss, but suprisingly the game remained playable (although worse than before obviously). I'm not sure about this yet - it may have something to do with the server I was using...
And if you're wondering what the hell 'Penguin Power' is all about just look here for a clue...
(later in the day): I fixed the site graphics so it doesn't go all white in 256 colour mode in Netscape (I must have been really bored to bother with that...)
Ow, my head hurts! Yes, uni work comes down on me again and it's a killer. (You know it wouldn't get so bad if I didn't have the urge to spend every minute mapping or playing Quake. I guess I bring it on myself ;)
Check Peekaboom's page for a rather large update, including my own author page =). The page has a review of EDC and makes a few good points about the map. However I just thought that I'd clarify something - EDC was not intended to be the total DFA frag-per-second map that Aggressor was. It's a step back and I hope people can appreciate the more tactical 1on1 setup. Ok, it's not that tactical - but I like it ;)
My SP map is getting there, most of the architechture is there and I'm starting to stock the map with weapons/ammo/monsters/etc and tweak the lighting. Have I said this map is huge before? Anyway I hope to get a preliminary version done soon (read: about two weeks - hey, it's a lot of work and I'm busy ;) and have a few friends test it. We'll see how it goes from there.
I've been messing around with some of the Fat Controller's stuff for the OUM project and it's gonna be fun. I won't be mapping intensively for this until I finish 'the castle map' but I'll be tinkering with it now and then.
Quake3Arena - Bloody hell!! With the release of the test on the Mac there's screenshot's-a-plenty hanging about of the test levels. I'm getting *REALLY* excited about this game. From all reports, the movement physics and gameplay are perfect and we all know that it looks great ;) I hope it's as good as they say 'coz I wanna do some fancy mapping with coloured lights and curves =)
I might disappear for a week or so while I catch up on some uni work and finish my SP map. I'll still be hanging around - so feel free to bug me, but I prolly won't update my page for a while. Cya soon.
Gibbie has posted a Frogbot waypoint file for EDC over at FMODs (in the Maps/Waypoints section - and you'll find there is also one for Aggressor). If you know how to use this, then great. If not then you can find more information at Metropolis and FMODs... or to make things a little easier, I've made a progs.dat to replace the one in your frogbot dir which supports a few of my favourite maps:
So, in short, to get going just download the latest frogbot, unzip it into a directory named 'frogbot' under your quake dir, then unzip my progs.dat into your frogbot dir, replacing the old progs.dat. Then just start a game from the command line something like this:
QUAKE.EXE -game frogbot -zone 1024 -listen 16 +map edc
Once you're in, just type addbot a few times at the console to add some bots.
I just uploaded the latest version of TyrLite which adds support for Ritual Entertainment's 'Scourge of Armagon' map extensions. I don't think that there's much more to add for now. I also put up a utils page for the program and added a button on the sidebar for it.
Paul has upload a whole load of reviews on Multiplayer Quake which includes a review of EDC (got 5/5 - Yay!). There's quite a few good maps up there, including Cheshire's latest piece 'Ergonomic Aftermath' which is quite spectacular (he pulled a 5/5 as well).
Skorpion has uploaded the omicron route file he made for EDC. I seriously recommend getting this file from his site, because using this map with that route hardcoded into the map makes for a very challenging and even somewhat tactical game. Cheers Skorp =)
Overall response to EDC so far has been unbelievably positive. Thanks to everyone who sent me their comments and to all the people that play my maps. You could say I'm 'happy as a sand boy' (right FC? ;)
Like the name? - Eternal Dismemberment Complex ;)
Yes, I finally got the thing done, so go to the map's page, look at the screenshots and download it! This has definately been the hardest map to finish, but boy am I glad tht I did. Another thing, Skorpion has made a kick ass route for the map so go to his page and grab it (*Note* It might not be there immediately so if not call back later...)
Now it's time to get my butt in gear with respect to my single player map and then on to some mapping for the Fat Controller's OUM pak. Later.
I got a mail early this morning from Vigilante of Team COTV telling me that a review of Aggressor has been posted on his page, along with reviews of Headshot's 'Hidden Agenda' and Peej's 'Infinite Skill'. Have a read here (look in the 'newest reviews' section).
Beta testing(DM) has been going pretty slow since nearly all of my beta testers were busy or on holidays last week, but I've been assured by a few that they will get back to me soon.
TyrLite now lets you to set a minimum lighting level for your map, allowing you to eliminate the totally dark spots in your map easily, without altering the lighting anywhere else. This means that TyrLite is now 100% compatible with Arghlite as well as offering the attenuation formula from IKLite. Grab the updated version here(39k).
For those who asked, here are the links for Arghlite(43k) and IKLite(62k).
Well, I was gonna be lazy and not update about this until later, but it seems some people are already interested and linked to my page ;) Anyway if you have been reading the qboard you might have noticed that I released my lighting tool for quake, 'TyrLite'.
Basically it allows you to use the features of ArghLite and IKLite at the same time, in the same map. I haven't made a page for it yet, but you can see the readme here and download the zip here (39k).
I made this program for my own use and only released it because a few others were interested in using it. I want to make it clear that this program is unsupported. Feel free to mail me with bug reports but I make no guarentees that I will fix it :)
Just thought I'd stop by and let everyone know that my DM map has been sent off to my beta testers. I bet a few people were beginning to think this map would never reach beta (me included ;). Anyway, I guess that means the final release is soon...
I've also added a whole heap Author Sites to my links page. Here are the additions:
I know I've still forgotten quite a few people, but I'll just keep adding to the page over time. A much better resouce than my lame effort is the Custom Map Resources page over at the qboard.
And the winner is... little_horn!
I never expected the site would get this much attention when I put it up at the start of the year. Thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in my work and given me feedback from time to time. As little_horn said: "here's to the next thousand" ;)
Damn, I almost got it finished. Oh well, take a look at this new area of the map below. There is still one part of the map which I am not happy with, so I will be holding off on the beta for now.
I sent off an interview form to Peekaboom so you can find out what I had to say when he posts it on his site soon. Feel free to send comments on the shots above, as usual.
Looks to me like my weekdays no longer belong to Quake, so now I live, eat, breathe and sleep Quake on weekends.
Mr. Shambler is always encouraging me and saying nice things, so I always feel like apologising to him for the amount of time it is taking me to complete my single player map. Here are the main two reasons. Firstly, because I have almost no free time all week and I only get the weekend to do any editing (or even playing) of my most beloved game. Secondly (and this is the kind of reason people like to hear) it is because this map is HUGE! In terms of depth it's about average, but the area (i.e. overhead view), the map covers about 3 quarters of the MAXIMUM POSSIBLE SIZE!!! (max size is 8192 x 8192 units). I'm spending quite a bit of time to make each area look good and play good, which takes a hell of a lot of effort on a map this size.
Trust me - The map _IS_ coming =)
I hope to get the beta of my DM map ready this weekend so it can be sent off for testing. Next weekend will be *very* cool for me - Easter weekend = 4 days w/o sunlight = lots of mapping and fun!
Peekaboom has put up his review of Aggressor so go read it (it's currently the third map down the page). He compares it to some of my all time favourite maps, which is very gratifying. Thanks Peek =]
Also, Thanks to all the people who mailed me with encouragement after I posted the last screenshots of my DM map, I really appreciate it ;) Whew! That turned out to be a pretty substantial update after all!
Ok, here's a couple of shots of the 'main' atrium. The lighting is still a little bland, but you get the general idea.
The rest of the layout is almost finalised, but there's some tedious texture alignment and lighting tweaks to go. Item placement is all in my head atm, so that's why you don't see any. I wanted to go for a fairly original style here - hope I've done that :)
Nearly two weeks since my last update, so I thought I'd just say hi again. It's been another busy couple of weeks where I only got the chance to lay about 5 brushes in my maps. Anyhow, I'll be MMAO (mapping my ass off) all weekend so hopefully I will have a couple of screenshots of my DM map by Sunday night. Cya then.
Oh and by the way, if you haven't already, check out these Q3A videos - Bring a sponge to whipe up the drool... Gibbies!!!
Well, I started back at Uni this week and wouldn't you know it, it's taking up my mapping time! Why couldn't I see that coming. Guess I got too used to being on holidays... oh well. Anyway, I spent most of this weekend working on my maps - Single player made some great advances, but I've hit a small snag in my DM map. Sorry to those people I was gonna send the beta, but I'm not sure how much longer to go... maybe I'll just say 'when it's done' :)
Well, I was away for a bit longer than I would have liked, but I'm back and here, as promised, are a couple more screenshots from my single player map in progress. This will likely be the last set of screenshots that I post for this map. This is because I don't like to give too much away in a SP map, and that seeing these new areas for the first time is really half the experience. Anyway, here they are...
I'm really happy with the way the connectivity in tyr_dm5 is turning out since I restarted. I should be ready for beta testing in about a week... time permitting of course.
Also, I got an email from Odd, letting me know that Aggressor is now on the currents rotation on GGH! So everyone go over and have a big bloodbath for me. (the map selection on this server seriously rocks! ;)
Another thing that I forgot to mention last update was that Skorpion has made an Omicron route file for Aggressor. It helps the bots go for the MH. Check it out at his site.
I've been messing around with the layout of tyr_dm5 (I'll call it that for now 'coz I get sick of writing 'my next DM map') and came to the decision that the layout needs to be completely rebuilt. This is not as much of a setback as you might think though since I already have the texture set, architectural details and general theme nailed down.
I'm going to be away for the next five or so days, so I'll hold off on posting the next set of SP screenies until I get back. This map will be every bit worth the wait - I'm looking forward to playing the finished version myself!
So far I've had really positive feedback on Aggressor - so thanks everyone :) Compile has done a review of the map which you can read over at his site AmberDawn.
I've added the map page for Aggressor now and a few more sites to the links page. Think I might post a couple more screenshots of my SP map soon - stay tuned...
My latest deathmatch map 'Aggressor' is finished and released, and the first place you'll find it is over at Gonz-O-Matic. So head on over, read the review and pick up a copy of the map :)
Sorry about the delay on the release of the map, but you'll be glad to know that the time wasn't wasted. I'm already about 30% done on my 5th DM map, and it's looking nice - using a few converted Quake 2 textures this time. I'm sharing my mapping time between this and my single player map which is also progressing nicely (I'd estimate about 75% done).
Also, the news for January has now been archived.
Been talking with Gonzo about 'Aggressor' and it looks like it will be released over on Gonz-O-Matic on February 2nd (give or take a day).
I've been constantly playtesting this map and I have to say, you won't be disappointed (unless you have something against id base textures as some people seem to...).
Ok, my new DM map is now officially in beta and it has a name - 'Aggressor'. Oh, I can't resist any more, here's a couple of screens:
Traditional base textures again... hmmm - anyone other than me still love these?
I'm having a bit of a rethink on some of the texturing on the map after some comments from one of my friends. I'm working on a couple of custom textures to fit the theme, so maybe 3-4 days more before the beta.
I got an e-mail from Skorpion today, letting me know that he has posted Omicron bot routes for my map Spare Elbow (this is extra cool coz omicron is my favourite bot:). Stop by Skorpions Omibot page for loads of other routes on all the best custom maps. I also added a 'bot resources' section to the links page. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can find the omicron bot home page there. There are also heaps of useful bot related links on Skorpion's page.
My next DM map (I really need to think of a name soon...) is almost ready for beta testing. If anyone wants to test it, mail me and I'll send a copy out to a (lucky?) few people.
Ok, I've put in the links section now. I'll keep adding to this as I think of extra stuff.
A big thankyou to Mr.Shambler for mentioning my site on his news page. This doubled the hit's on my site overnite! =). Remember, for quality single player Quake reviews, it has to be TEAMShambler!
Work on the maps continues...
If you want to check out maps I've done previously, take a look at the maps page. I've recently released my latest deathmatch map Spare Elbow. It's quite small, being designed for fast furious 1-on-1 play. Grab it and let me know what you think :)
Mr. Shambler of TEAMShambler Quake level reviews recently dug up my first map Escape from Actaltraz and wrote a glowing review on it. This inspired me to start a new map which I have a couple of shots of below...
I'm currently working on another DM map and a new SP adventure. I haven't got a name for either yet, but I never usually think of a name I like until it's nearly finished. Ok, here's a couple of (early) screenshots of my next single player map, as yet unnamed:
As you can see, it's set in a castle. I know this theme has been done over and over, but I'm trying to design this place to inspire a feeling of grandure - I won't release it if I think it's going to turn out 'just average'.
Absolutely anyone who is still into Quake(1) DM, particularly mappers, should stop by at Headsh0t's new qBoard. This looks like it is going to be an outstanding resource for all aspects of Quake DM and is regularly posted to by all the 'big name' authors.
Well it's about time I got my act together and got this webpage up and running. This is my first effort at doing this <html> stuff, so If you see anything that doesn't look right, let me know (remember to mention what browser you're using). As you can see, I'm not much good at doing graphics, but I'm getting some help later so things should improve then.
Anyway, this is to be the home for all my Quake related stuff. You can have a look at the maps I've already done in the maps section. This news page will have information about maps I am working on at the moment and anything else I feel like writing. How frequently will I update? I have no idea - wait and see :)