---

esselfortium said:
I think the rocks would look better with fewer high-contrast texture changes (like the grayish rock suddenly turning into bright orange rock), and with some y-alignments (particularly in the first shot, on the stair-stepped rocks).

---

---

Use3D said:
Damn Andy you've pulled out the stops on this one! This must be your biggest map yet. It obviously looks symmetrical, not to the point of being obnoxious, but I'll hold any reservations until I've played it.

---

---

justanotherfool said:


2. I think the gameplay might be improved by modifying some of the linedefs that stop monsters from passing. Most notably in the big room with all the hell-knights, there are a few cacodemons and imps at the bottom of the room that are pretty useless due to being stuck in their corners until you're ready to deal with them. Also the archvile and the barons guarding the RL should be able to follow you down the corridor, that would be quite interesting :) . I admit that I was pretty relieved to discover that the vile could just be picked off at my leisure, but I think that it might be more satisfying if changed.

3. It's easy to anticipate what's coming in the symmetrical parts of the level. This isn't really a flaw, depending on your point of view, but maybe using different monsters or placement would help keep the player on their toes?

---

---

justanotherfool said:
Nice demo, aleaver. Gave me some ideas about potential improvements as well.

---

---

There are various places in the map where you have multiple items stacked up on top of each other when there's plenty of space on the floor to put some of them on. There are a few places where you have chaingun and shotgun ammo boxes on top of each other, and some where you have multiple boxes of shells stacked up. This is annoying if you want to pick up one of the items but not the other, and I suggest you move some items wherever this is the case.

---

---

I also think you could improve the movement of the monsters further by tampering with the linedefs a bit more. For example, if you run up the stairs in the key hall to get the SSG as you did in your demo, you can then snipe off the cacs, hellknights, etc, trapped at the bottom of the stairs. It might be better if all of the monsters could walk up and down the stairs (including the horde in the main room).
The area with the hellknights guarding the rocket launcher would be better in my view if the hellknights could enter the corridors instead of it being possible to easily pick them off from the corners at the end of the corridors (again like the demo). This would probably make the archie harder to deal with as well.
Finally, I would like it if the monsters could open each of the three doors in the room with the blue stairs, allowing them to follow you into that room. Especially with respect to the hall with the keys.

---

---

I think there might be a bit too much health scattered around, as well. Even given the numbers and quality of the opposition, it doesn't feel that dangerous (although it's certainly entertaining). This is a minor quibble, since enjoyment should be the main factor.

---

---

Finally, I'm not sure there's really any point in the soulsphere secret at the end, since by that stage the archvile in the exit is probably the only enemy left alive anyway. I would relocate the secret and make it more difficult to find. The one in the blue area (where you teleport to the blue key) is also incredibly easy to find, since it's red. Maybe changing the button to blue would rectify this, although I suppose that having a few easy to find secrets isn't really a bad idea.

---

---

justanotherfool said:
Finally, I'm not sure there's really any point in the soulsphere secret at the end, since by that stage the archvile in the exit is probably the only enemy left alive anyway. I would relocate the secret and make it more difficult to find.

---

---

Death-Destiny said:

Remember that there are still 13 more maps to play after this one (assuming this map stays in slot 17). While that secret may not be very useful for playing with pistol-start, the players who like to play straight through would appreciate such things every here and there. In case they got beat up in the previous map and had to be careful in this one, this secret could allow them to start MAP18 on the right foot (and of course would have no negative effect on pistol-start). Therefore, it may not be a bad idea to leave it as is. Just keep that in mind when you decide what to do with the secret, ALeaver.

---