(Level design pro-tip: holding tanks are just big thick stubby pipes, very useful.) "cr8" by Speedy has a very 2000s feel, a gritty industrial theme via 128x128 textures with heavy trims everything is a murky midtone and will feel dark no matter what.įor the exploratory top half I built out a fairly contemporary concrete brick sewer thing with vague holding tanks and pipes. This was an opportunity to go out of my comfort zone and try a new texture set I had never seen before. I've usually used Makkon's (excellent) textures for my Quake levels. So I needed two visual themes for it to feel like a progression. Now the map had two halves, an explore-y approach bit and then a small hub with three arenas. I also designed it as a safe lobby gathering area for co-op players, since the map jam uses the mod Copper with its co-op design pillar. So I blocked out some simple rooms above the existing arenas, to serve as a short entry puzzle area ("Quake puzzle" = you have to press a button to open a door) with a bit of exploration. Slaughters feel better if there's some initial no-slaughter to contrast with it. Then I thought, OK, maybe that crit is more about the lack of variety in the level. I think I do this because that's the "most gameplay" for the least effort, and I don't have the patience to test and tweak encounter scripting a lot. Hopefully the player resisted using the quad damage powerup in the middle until this finale fight, when all the delayed gratification finally pays off, along with a grenade launcher.Īfter I got the arenas feeling OK, I woke up the next morning realizing I was falling into a design pattern that I get (softly) criticized for - I tend to do a lot of "slaughter" style fights with big static mobs and little scripted progression. By the end, the player has a huge compound arena to fight-off a big finale mob. Lastly, I leave it to the player to approach the arenas in whatever order they like, though a grunt > scrag > ogre order is probably ideal.įollowing a pattern from one of my previous maps "Daughter Drink This Water", each arena gradually unlocks with neighboring arenas after the fight. I kept the overall shape the same so I could copy and paste details later, but the middle of each arena has different platforms and cover patterns. One with mostly grunts, one with mostly ogres, and one for the scrags. Three monster types also lends itself to three arena variations. Lastly, the scrags are great for crowded arenas since they don't need floor space. The tanky artillery ogres are the best designed enemy type in all of Quake. Grunts are the traditional first enemy you encounter in a Quake episode but become challenging in groups or on elevation. Droles and a couple Shambler variants are just about the only decent takeaways, and I'm sure id could come up with better original creations there.For combat I decided to confine myself mostly to a small encounter design palette of 3 monster types: army grunts (slow weak shotgun fodder), ogres (meaty grenade tanks), and scrags (ranged flyers). I think where Quoth / AD kind of fall short though is they don't add very many new lovecraftian enemies, or in Quoth's case not very many actually good ones. Add variety to existing enemies and fill gaps in gameplay with new ones. Those are really the most important ones out of anything. Crossbowers for much needed ranged enemies on medieval maps. Knight, Human Infantry and Ogre variants with differing attacks, toughness and weaponry. Drones as a Scrag replacement for idbase maps. Vorelings as a much needed fast but weak swarming fodder enemy. Most enemies from Quoth / Arcane Dimensions, or something similar to those enemies, are and would be good additions. Quake isn't a generic fantasy game.Īll the vanilla enemies obviously need to return, but with some much needed enhancements to their AI, attack variety, balance (looking at you Spawns), etc. To be honest I wouldn't want to see just typical fantasy races like lizardmen or goblins or etc, I don't think it's a good fit at all.
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