The Return Of The King

Just beautiful looking structures with this texture set. Amazing detailing and geo. Extra bonus points for detailing the unique mechanic with well timed scripting. Gameplay was quite straight forward type of deal with not too many surprising moments. Cool set pieces though especially ending and one other encounter introducing a certain enemy.

I was able to escape the map behind the scenes couple of times, but that is not a big deal. Would've been awesome locations for some secrets.

Short and sweet Quake experience with few twists. Great job!

I will only rate this map as a four-star, for two reasons:
1) I hate beam-in-right-in-your-face monsters
2) I hate 'Horde' style maps

But on the positive side: what absolutely amazing brushwork! This is the most detailed and beautiful brush- and texurework i have ever seen on a 'first' map! Absolutely amazing!
If this map were populated with a more conventional monster crew, i'd given it the full five stars, with an extra brownie point and chocolate topping!

Very well done! Thanks for your efforts, and thanks for sharing!

Pretty fun map! I like the "destroy the crystal" mechanics a lot, especially when it came time to destroy the 2 with numbered switches.

I did feel the prototype number texture was somewhat unfitting with the id1 style though. I think the numbered panels from the id1 base set (I believe they're intended for multiplayer?) would have suited the look better. Also, the button textures being used as shoot switches as a tad confusing.

Another small pointer is that, while secret hunting, I found a way to jump onto the skybox without getting hit by the kill/hurt trigger, so I walked around under the map for a little bit. Some of the geometry is also a little fiddly to walk on due to how complex it is.

Great stuff overall though!

For a first map an great little map,, I really hope there will be more, big thanks to you for this creation highly enjoyable

would've never known it was somebody's first map, goated brother

Great idea. Nice map structure.
Excellent for the first map.
Thank you.

What a great map. It's immediately obvious that the mapper has his roots in another game and has translated a lot of the vibe into Quake. I can't imagine that this is his first map ever. Everything is far too complex and polished for that.

The bridge at the beginning builds up an incredible atmosphere and then leads to a great main building. The battles are not too difficult. The jump pads and the crystals add to the fun.

Great map. Thank you.

Hard to imagine this being your first map, I found it very impressive and fun overall!

Graphics

Very nice brushwork overall. Lots of rounded columns, roofs, etc.. Some minor texture alignment problems, but nothing fancy. My biggest gripe (and it isn't that big!) would be with the lighting. All the rounded items I mentioned could use some phong shading, I feel it was made very specifically for this purpose. And there were some areas that were just black, and could have used some ambient lighting. I love the choice of skybox, its red contrasts very well with the overall bluish theme.

I also like the little tidbits with the fallen soldiers and the shabby look of the "palace" in some places.

Mechanics

I liked the jump portals, the particle effect makes them clearly visible. They weren't used to great effect, but they're not useless either.

I was very impressed by the "energy pipes" effect and the crystals draining the pipes, a good addition!

Difficulty

I found it pretty easy, even the end boss.