Tuesday, August 24th, 2004
Here we are again. Another id game, another level!
It's actually been about 5 years since I have released a map and done any real editing, so the construction of this has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. The Doom 3 engine has been a pleasure to work with though. The most "fun" I have had doing this for since the Quake 1 engine. All the new stuff is truly awesome. No doubt this will breed many great new ideas from the community.
Hmm.. What can I say about Mancer01.wad itself? It was among the first levels I ever made, and probably my first "good one". I always enjoyed deathmatching on it and I also released 'Mancer01 Special' that was my last Doom 2 map around the time Quake came out. I could write a book here about the golden days of Doom.. Suffice to say that, for me, the level has a bit of nostalgia value to it.
I've had the idea to remake Mancer01 for quite awhile. I never could have imagined it would turn out like this though. It may not look anything similar to the original, no sense in that. It might not be the most strict translation. But, it retains many of the values that made the original a blast to play. The fast paced action for one. ;)
Of course, some sacrifices had to be made to keep tris and shadow counts in line. None really worth detailing. Also, there are more things I would liked to have done. Such as some of that doom 3-ish machinery and some other special effects, but at the time of this writing the map has essentially been completed for a week (only minor tweaks/additions have been made) and that sort of thing would take plenty of time to get running while not increasing tris/shadow counts significantly. As many of you editing Doom 3 may have noticed, things now take much longer to do in comparison to Quake engine based games. No sense in delaying the release any further for changes that wouldn't have any real impact on the way the map plays. All in all, I'm pleased with the end result just the way it is.
I put plenty 'o work into this to ensure it is more than just a 'doom 2 map remake'. Give it a shot and try it out in deathmatch. You might like what you find. ;)
That all said, I hope that everyone enjoys it!
Additionally, some of you old school Quakers might recognize that logo when you fall in the red pits. A little tribute to a Quake mod I worked on long ago. Maybe someone out there remembers it? ;)