Thank you that is high praise indeed but we must not forget that this is as stated on the tin, "A remake" of a master mappers original. I was truely disappointed when Sten announced on his site that he would not be doing anymore conversions of his older maps to Q3, because like you I also believe this particular map (the original that is) to stand shoulder to shoulder with every other quake map out there. I had so many great games with friends on dial up modems even before broadband came around on this map. Those memories are what drove me to complete it and then release it.
Ian
AKA FoRa
Ian
AKA FoRa.
Regards
Ian
AKA FoRa
Firstly thankyou for taking the time to write all that for a map that's now almost five years old. I no longer have a gaming PC and switched to XBOX gaming some years back, but I still like to keep tags on the work I published and answer those who care to comment on it. So again thank you for your response. I'll try and answer some of your points and questions.
My "trace" as you call it was built from the ground up, no bsp2map conversion (and that also goes for my Reckless Abandonment map, though it's more obvious there), so scaling was computed by eyeing hundreds of screen shots and doing strafe jump runs through points of the map ... 1 Q2 strafe jump = 1 Q3 strafe jump. Not the most scientific method I know, but it was the only method I could think of. (It was only my third map). I'm going to concede the LOS problems to you, as you said you've played it thousands of times in Q2 so more the power to you. As you have experienced yourself, with remake it's always difficult to please everyone :)
Whilst building the map I actually took the "barriers" as you call them out, but people felt it improved the flow and aided to the speed of CPM and VQ3. I also tended to agree so hence put them back in. However, I appreciate purists won't like that inclusion, but I'm fine with that :p
I think the comment on v1l3 (the reviewer) missing "major" issues is a little harsh given the above, and I still think it plays well as a duel map.
As you are building your own versionm, whilst bots do play the map well, it actually does have a flaw, they never go for the RA from the ladder or the LG, I think I may have inadvertantly closed off that route with one of those invisible textures for frame rate purposes. It always bothered me, but I'd already gone final on the map before I spotted that. (Something to chew on). <- You'll see I'm more of a critic on my work than anyone else could be :p
With regards to your final comment on a score of 5.5, that's great thank you. I wanted the best of both worlds, the feel of the original (which if you're not a purist I think it captures) with decent looks.
Again thank you so much for taking the time to comment on the map in so much detail and I do hope your version goes well for you.
Best Regards
Ian
AKA FoRa
One problem I noticed even when I saw the map in development over at Q3W was the scale - it's rather large! What was your trace scaled to... 1.5? 1.75? Yeah Q3 physics and weapons do require more room to be available, but a scale of 1.0625 or 1.125 works best.
I've learned the hard way about map remakes - they can be a pain in the ass to get right and I've only learned by people raging at me (my q2dm1 remake for QL attempt is a good example - Google it if you want). Sure, you can say that it's not a 'faithful remake' but it's not even the same map anymore if you remove crucial parts of the gameplay...
A few LoS problems:
Negatives aside, it runs smoothly and looks great! You really used those waste textures well in the CPM version to get that brilliant Q2 feel to it. Lighting is spot-on, bots play the map without any problems and go for all the items, even the Mega.
If I were to look at this map as an original map or a major redux of another map, I'd give it an 8/10, but if the intention is to capture the original gameplay then it's a 3/10. I'm not quite sure which one to go with this since it is reasonably enjoyable so I'll just average it and give it a 5.5. A good attempt but in future keep an eye on the smaller details.
Glad you liked it.
Ian
AKA FoRa!
Ian
AKA FoRa :)