Crate Crater (unfinished, unused CC4 map)

[Blastfrog]

Well, I dunno if I'm ever gonna finish this, since I can't get past mapper's block, and I'm very unconfident regarding my skills in creating layouts that flow well. I made the majority of this map, and I handed it off to Jimmy, who added an extra hallway and connected one of the keycard rooms to it in case you fell in the pit.

You need the CC4 texture pack to run it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?kn54ad1dtezigwd

[Blastfrog]

Sorry to double post, but I want to improve as a mapper, and I was wondering if anyone could provide some critiques of what little there is of the map. Is there anything I did wrong in it?

[Dragonsbrethren]

It feels too big and empty. I know my maps tend to be a bit too cramped, even for my own tastes, but this is the opposite. It almost feels like a city map, like your rooms could be streets (even then they'd be a bit too big). It's also very blocky feeling, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but doesn't pair well with how large the rooms are. It also lacks height variation in most sections, the outside area being the exception.

Also, I despise crates. I know, it's in the name, but there are a million more interesting things you could do than have piles of crates around your map.

[Ribbiks]

nothing objectively 'wrong', but some general opinions/critiques (since the map in unfinished you can of course take these with a grain of salt):

- too sparse overall I think. all the rooms feel a bit too wide/big, at least for the very little amount of enemies
- way too much hp, not enough enemies. don't think I felt threatened at any point in the level so far.
- first room seems really frontloaded with items, RL + soulsphere seemed like overkill, make the player work for the goodies.
- detailing is pretty minimalist, but I feel like this would be less of an issue if the hallways and such were scaled down a tad (I like the aesthetic of the yellow hallway thing towards the end).
- needs more interactivity, some traps, switches that reveal items / open doors, etc. At the moment it seems to just be open door --> kill a few enemies --> repeat.


tl;dr I think the map would flow fine if it were expanded upon, it just needs more 'stuff'

[Dragonsbrethren]

I disagree with needing more stuff. Despite its emptiness, it already feels cluttered in places, especially the start. It needs the walls moved in more than anything.

Detail level would be okay if the rooms weren't rectangles.