Betas & Playtesting

[h4724]

Want feedback on something you're working on? Use this thread to post early versions of your maps, organise playtesting sessions for singleplayer, deathmatch, and co-op, and recieve feedback from the community. You can include screenshots to get people interested, but please use the Work in Progress thread if you're only posting screenshots.

Please do not host maps for testing using this website's upload function, as this is intended for releases. Link to another service such as Google Drive or Quaketastic instead,

@VuRkka is kindly hosting multiplayer maps on the quakeworld.fi servers. Contact him by email at vurkka [at] gmail [dot] com or on Discord at VuRkka#8210 to get your maps hosted for testing. Demos from the server can be found at http://qw.quakeworld.fi:28000/demos/

 

[alexUnder Ros]

Finally. THANK YOU very much. I dreamed about such a thread on Slipseer for quite some time already

 

[spootnik]

I'd appreciate some playtesting for my new map, using pd3.

I took advantage of pd3's monster styles, and modified projectiles, and I also made a boss (used a modified bossnour.mdl from AD to replace the scrag).

Mainly, I'd love feedback for the combat, especially the final battle. I want it to be tough, in the way that it probably will take a few attempts to beat it, but I don't want it to be a turn off to too many players. Another thing I'd like to really improve on is lighting - let me know if somewhere looks bad (too dark, too light, too boring/flat, etc.).

Thank you!

parallax.zip

drive.google.com

 

[alexUnder Ros]

Cool map. No bugs found. No errors. Loved the visuals - really cool beveled-in mayan pics in walls. Layout is pretty interesting. Very cool red doors secrets - I wanted 10 more. As for encounters - well that's where mixed feelings come in. Last battle 100% feel awkward when it continues AFTER nour is dead. But also in general it's a very tedious when you kill a mob - and nearly always another one appears. It ruins the surprise. You should definetly lower half of second-wave-spawn. As for jumping-pad-room horde - I loved it. I didn't expect so many waves. It amazed me. What else? That GIANT horde of scrags is hilariously looking
All in all quite cool map. Loved it

 

[Spiked_]

Parallax.zip :
Fun map, the visuals were very nice, did notice one texture bug in the first room with the wave spawns.

All the fights were really fun and interesting, the first wave room with the jump pad was nice to use that to move around. The scrags after picking up the red key was also really fun - the respawning rockets made that fun rather than tedium with a nailgun. The scrags in the corridor was also really good. After picking up the red key I was a little lost on where to go but I found it without wasting too much time. The death knights spawning in that little hallway, progressing from normal attacks to the explosive attacks was interesting and just as it was overstaying its welcome, it was over. The scrags spawning in after killing an enemy was cool, kinda like their ghosts attacking you as well? The final boss room was fun and took me a couple of tries on normal, it was a bit weird to have another fight after the boss with the shamblers spawning in, maybe switch that around so you kill so many enemies, then the glass shatters and the boss spawns in?

Tested on quakespasm 0.95.1 and worked fine, no problems. The music was nice, didn't feel out of place.

All in all, a really fun map.

 

[Spiked_]

I've finished a copper map and would like some playtesters to make sure the combat is right and the map is ready for release.
Copper not included, if you don't have copper already you'll need it.

Any and all feedback is much appreciated.

Link:

snklib.zip

drive.google.com

Thank you and I hope it's fun to play.

EDIT:
New version changes crystal texture, fixes a couple issues and slightly reworks the final part.

Screenshots:

 

[AwakeOnPhobos]

I've finished a copper map and would like some playtesters to make sure the combat is right and the map is ready for release.
Copper not included, if you don't have copper already you'll need it.

Any and all feedback is much appreciated.

This was 20-something minutes well spent. Fun map with almost nonstop-action that always keeps you moving forward.

The rocket launcher room was probably my favorite part of the entire thing, constantly putting pressure on the player and not allowing any kind of retreat to a chokepoint in order to pick off monsters one by one.

During the final battle it felt like a lot of the ogres and death knights got in each other's way and started infighting due to the narrow corridors between shelves, making it less dangerous than it could have been. There was also a room earlier in the map where some monster jump triggers seemed to break for me, causing a few knights to just hop around the top of the room without ever coming down (it's clearly visible in the demo).

The secrets I found struck a nice balance between button hunting and some tricky jumping, and while the looks might be a bit old-school/rough around the edges, there's a clear theme and appropriate texture usage to everything.

First playthrough demo attached (skill 2, recorded in Ironwail). Thank you for sharing!

 

[Mista Heita]

Smol map for copper. Initially e3 map for Coffee Quake 2. Not sure about the lighting - tell me if its too dark

 

[AwakeOnPhobos]

Smol map for copper. Initially e3 map for Coffee Quake 2. Not sure about the lighting - tell me if its too dark

That was a fun little map! Some of the Ogre niches are pretty dark, but I don't think that necessarily needs to be changed. It becomes obvious where they are once they fire a grenade at you and until then they have a little ambush bonus which works in favor of the combat in my opinion.

Spoiler: Secret Spoiler

The underwater part with the Quad secret could maybe use an additional light or two, depending on how hard you want to make it for players to find. I feel like I just stumbled across it by luck more than anything, despite reading the hint earlier in the map.

Blind skill 2 demo attached. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Mista Heita]

Thanks! Here is new version with tweaked lighting. Also added new area and a new the way to obtain one of the secrets. There is also more monsters

 

[Mista Heita]

I strike again with another unfinised map. Copper too.

Its 90% prototype textures, there are alot of void openings so watch your step!
There are some skill differences but be ready to tank a lot of damage on any skill. Skill 0 has red armor.

 

[h4724]

I strike again with another unfinised map. Copper too.

Its 90% prototype textures, there are alot of void openings so watch your step!
There are some skill differences but be ready to tank a lot of damage on any skill. Skill 0 has red armor.

Nice, I love the way you smash different angles together into a twisty layout. The pipes are cool too. There are some specific notes in the attached demo (skill 2). Here are some more general thoughts about the map:

The encounters were consistently engaging and surprising due to the way you have threats coming from all around, but I don't think there was much memorable or unique about them; they all sort of felt the same. The lack of higher-tier enemies was certainly felt with the amount of gameplay you've got. I don't know how much you intend to expand the layout, since I saw some unused areas and obviously what you said around the gold key. Some fights, especially the early ones, felt like they would be better if they were layered more. It wasn't that they were overwhelming really, just that they burned very hot and very short, if you get what I mean. The same enemies introduced over a longer period would feel more substantial. I only found one secret; going back I thought there might be one , but I checked and that wasn't it. Obviously this is quite early in development so I don't expect all the secrets to be in yet, but it's worth mentioning that I do hope you add more secrets later.

The map feels like it lacks any big setpieces or conceptual twists really, other than the super awesome angled layout. And while I didn't get lost, the layout did feel more sprawling than it was ordered. I know these two points are very vague and difficult to act on, and what you've got is really good either way, but I think you're capable of making something really impressive out of this that I don't quite see yet.

 

[Mista Heita]

Nice

Thanks for playing!
Yeah there is some room to improve combat, second room felt especially chaotic, more than it should.

Secrets: technicaly there are only 2 trigger_secrets, one of which is empty so you are not missing much, but there will be more.

About doors: I agree there might be one too many of them. I use them as additional attack vectors in new areas, as well as shortcuts to previous ones for post-combat secret hunting. Maybe I will come up with something else.

I have accumulated a bunch of half-finished maps and was kinda entertaining the idea of releasing a mini-episode. There might be too much enforcers even to my liking but I dont want to toss Shamblers and Vores at the player just yet! I'm having trouble figuring out second floor, will probably rework it to be shorter and throw player into final arena quicker.

 

[Mista Heita]

Here is a small pack of 3 unreleased levels of mine. Those are quite old - mhsp00 (which was supposed to be my first map) goes back to 2019. I no longer have interest in these so posting it here for anyone to use in their quake projects. That said there might and will be some off-grid brushes and verticies, stretched textures and questionable design choices - be vigilant!

mhsp00 is partially complete runic metal castle, ad progs. First screenshot is a starting point;




mhsp02 is underdeveloped makkon tech base/hi-tech temple with libraries, bottomless pits and twisty stairs, rather a prefab junkyard than a level. It used progsdump and very early, pre-release set of makkon3 (tech) wad, which is not included;


mhsp03 is a bonus incomplete blockout that I no longer have interest in. Maybe it will serve as a kickstart for somebody else's level (no screenshot, sorry).
I was not able to attach the archive to this post directly for some reason, so here is a link to my mega. Archive contains only .map files.

Please comment if you gonna use one of these. And let me know if you release any

 

[h4724]

I no longer have interest in these so posting it here for anyone to use in their quake projects.

We should probably get a scraps thread going for this sort of thing...

 

[alexUnder Ros]

Here is a small pack of 3 unreleased levels of mine. Those are quite old - mhsp00 (which was supposed to be my first map) goes back to 2019. I no longer have interest in these so posting it here for anyone to use in their quake projects. That said there might and will be some off-grid brushes and verticies, stretched textures and questionable design choices - be vigilant!

mhsp00 is partially complete runic metal castle, ad progs. First screenshot is a starting point;
View attachment 4372
View attachment 4371
View attachment 4373

mhsp02 is underdeveloped makkon tech base/hi-tech temple with libraries, bottomless pits and twisty stairs, rather a prefab junkyard than a level. It used progsdump and very early, pre-release set of makkon3 (tech) wad, which is not included;
View attachment 4374

mhsp03 is a bonus incomplete blockout that I no longer have interest in. Maybe it will serve as a kickstart for somebody else's level (no screenshot, sorry).
I was not able to attach the archive to this post directly for some reason, so here is a link to my mega. Archive contains only .map files.

Please comment if you gonna use one of these. And let me know if you release any

What parameters did you use for compiling? -bounce -soft -extra4 -dirt? I am asking because dirt & bounce can change lighting drastically and on screens all looks cool already

 

[Mista Heita]

What parameters did you use for compiling? -bounce -soft -extra4 -dirt? I am asking because dirt & bounce can change lighting drastically and on screens all looks cool already

I probably used all of those. Cant tell for sure since it was years since I last compiled any of them. SP00 has bounce set in worldspawn.

 

[jmnorman]

Hello! I'm new at this, but I have a map I've been working on. It's my second map. I know you're supposed to ask for playtesters early in development but I didn't because I have been so focused on figuring out how everything works, and so it's pretty well detailed and all. I'm still super new to all this stuff and I haven't played Quake since my childhood. Anyway, this map is industrial themed and based on the Monolith Devkit - if you install a fresh Monolith folder, you can drop this release in it and should be good to go. Nothing will work without Monolith though. It's all in the readme.

Runtime for me averages about 5-7 minutes, and the .map is included. I really have no idea how this will be received - I will just be glad if I packaged everything right and it works for you!

Here is the release on Google Drive.

 

[h4724]

Hello! I'm new at this, but I have a map I've been working on. It's my second map. I know you're supposed to ask for playtesters early in development but I didn't because I have been so focused on figuring out how everything works, and so it's pretty well detailed and all. I'm still super new to all this stuff and I haven't played Quake since my childhood. Anyway, this map is industrial themed and based on the Monolith Devkit - if you install a fresh Monolith folder, you can drop this release in it and should be good to go. Nothing will work without Monolith though. It's all in the readme.

Runtime for me averages about 5-7 minutes, and the .map is included. I really have no idea how this will be received - I will just be glad if I packaged everything right and it works for you!

Looks great, I'll have to remember to give this a try.

 

[h4724]

@jmnorman Here's my demo. I found it fairly easy on hard.

I don't know why you included the music, if you wanted a custom track then you should only include the one you used and not replace any of the vanilla tracks.