SP-Phoenix Rising

[Sarevok]

(especially the UT Chainsaw, which is easily the worst FPS chainsaw in existence by a long shot). The Quadshot was overpowered, Pulsegun nearly useless, UT Rifle overpowered, ASMD nearly useless

lol well what guns am I suppose to use then?! I tried to have a mixed variety, the chainsaw was for backup and to help save ammo by attacking the weaker enemies. Plus there's no dispersion til the second map. I couldn't get the mercs to attack the skaarj correctly so I got rid of that. The windmill in the second map is supposed to be closed off. The boots are setup to use with the boss fight, it has 100 charges and you're suppose to jump up on the circle of pillars like Scrag did. I'm really not sure what else I can do with the gameplay, I used patrol points, alarm points, spawn points, triggered events. Any suggestions?

Hellscrag jump on the terrain on the left side of the bridge by the waterfall to get back out. It's a little buggy, might take a few attempts.

Thanks for the feedback guys, definitely very helpful so far. Is gameplay then the weakest part? Is it to unbalanced? to hard?

[Sarevok]

Yeah, I also went over the columns, let the bosses hurt themselves, and then finish them with all the weapons (except the Pulse Gun since it sucks in SP).

That's part of the plan too. I would jump down there from time to time to fight and when things got to crazy I would jump back up. I'll admit they're pretty hard, it took me 3 tries to beat them. Originally it was suppose to be 4 titans and a redeemer...seriously lol but I'll save that for the commentary.

[Sarevok]

Well I've been thinking and Hellscrag is right, so I'm going to withdraw from the competition. I failed to realize that it is in fact a speedmapping competition and got overambitious. Thanks guys for playing, I enjoyed working on it, got the mapping juices flowing again You can lock this thread if you want Scrag.

[ElectricIce]

Before you do, there was a question how to get back from the hut without using fly, at the right of the Waterfall Facing to it there is a heightened area you can walk up, if walking does not work try to dodge up to it then you can walk.

[salsaSkaarj]

Finished (again, not 100%).

I started on Medium first and found it a bit too easy so when I went to the second map, I restarted on Unreal.

Having found the hut before but not finding a way back onto the bridge, I advanced as I did on Medium, only to find a Skaarj noticing me, dropping down and playing unfair (I was unarmed). Restarted, went to the hut and started searching for a way back up. In the end, the way up is exactly where it seemed to be, but I almost crippled the space button which was keyed to jump in order to ascend that slope (I consider this a bug).

OK, from then on gameplay is nothing excpetional (I prefer to get rid of the Skaarj from distance while I 'm still on the lower level), until the second level (spider ambush is fun in the relative darkness), but going up that elevator gave me a fright. The resulting battle took long (hail the DP) and the subsequent winner went on to tackle other problems (which he encountered).

OK, my brain managed to understand that I had to shoot something and I realised that I should expect some action immediately so decided to find out WTF those jump boots were for, in short, it took me like 20 minutes trying various approaches before I managed to jump onto the columns (and with the end fight now in my head I can't imagine myself trying that again during the fight) (In gameplay this should be a bit easier, either by lowerin the columns, or providing some stones or boxes - as it is now during gameplay it seems almost impossible).

Started the action and almost immediately got blown down to ground level, managed to get into the corridor and started exterminating until I realised I had about 5 rockets left which I should use in case one of those oversized (still 4 alive) could enter the corridor. Hail the DP again, or not! With Red and White still alive Red decided to be more intimate with me and my efforts to dissuade him had no effect. Needless to say I had no time to type "god".


So, my opinion - even though content from other packs is used - it is used in the correct way and fits in the environment. The idea of using the same layout for the second map but in a different season (or time) works really great.
Enemy placement is good and gameplay balance for Medium and Unreal are OK to me. I didn't try the final battle on Medium but on Unreal I thought it was a bit unfair, it's almost impossible to avoid getting cornered once you fall down - If there were a simpler way to return to the top of the colums then I think the battle would be fair, although an extra shield on top (or health pak) doesn't strike me as superfluous.

Final thoughts - could have been a serious contestant for the top prize but for the use of external content (which should exclude it a priori).

[Hellscrag]

Well I've been thinking and Hellscrag is right, so I'm going to withdraw from the competition. I failed to realize that it is in fact a speedmapping competition and got overambitious. Thanks guys for playing, I enjoyed working on it, got the mapping juices flowing again You can lock this thread if you want Scrag.

It's too late to withdraw now - you submitted it! I can see no reason for withdrawing it - why compromise our already small pool of maps? It just needs a bit of fixing for the compilation release (including cleaning up the use of extra packages).

[Sarevok]

lol I can't win You tell me you're not really sure about my entry and that it's going to be a nightmare for the compilation so I withdraw thinking it's for the best and I can't withdraw now. So what's it gonna be Scrag?

[Legendslayer222]

lol I can't win You tell me you're not really sure about my entry and that it's going to be a nightmare for the compilation so I withdraw thinking it's for the best and I can't withdraw now. So what's it gonna be Scrag?

He says enter but get rid of textures/sounds/etc. that you didn't make for the contest. (Like for example, get rid of custom snow & use U1's horrible ice. You probably didn't use custom slow anyway, but you know what I mean. )

[Semfry]

The theme was done well (although the lighting in the second level felt a bit off to me, like it was overly zone lit or something), although it's short enough that there isn't too much to add beyond that, on the other hand, it's a good example of making use of a relatively contained area. I also have a certain fondness for the overall concept because it has some similarity to what I had in mind (;) ).

As others have mentioned the way out of the pit at the start is way too obtuse, with the advice in this thread I did find it, but there's absolutely no clues that that's where you need to jump to, and even then it can be tricky to hit the right spot.

There needs to be more ammo somewhere (Unreal mode); I killed the last remaining boss enemy with my final DP shots, and that was with multiple reloads to ensure the last of my ammo all hit its target. Also, this was with skipping the bunch of the Mercenaries in the final room of the first level, so it would have been even worse if I had fought there. There also needs to be at least some health in the last arena; I started at half-health and had to finish up most of the fight in critical condition. Thinking back I'm sure I got a message that I had found a Flakcannon just before the spinners, yet I don't actually have one...

The Spinner boss also needs a hiding spot or something, as it is you either have enough ammo to blow it away with the Quadshot or you don't and get raped in a narrow space or fall back down (I did and killed it pretty easily, but you could easily get there without enough, even with the extra provided).

I also agree with Waff that the weapon selection doesn't really have any "theme" (for lack of a better description) and just feels like a haphazard bunch of different weapons without any real harmony. It's always nice to have a Quadshot that isn't total crap though

The "you get brought back from the dead" (happens right at the start, so it's not a spoiler) thing also didn't seem to have any effect on the plot, guess that's a part of it originally being more ambitious.

It's a bit short and dodgily balanced despite the interesting idea behind it. This is another level where I get the feeling a more polished release would change my opinion of it a bit, although not to the degree of Kaka's level.

Also, where is Tobiastrees from? I've been looking for some Autumn tree type stuff...

[Hellscrag]

I didn't mean get rid of ALL of the custom textures (the main texture sets can stay), but just try to tidy it up a bit so that you use less packages. Otherwise, LS222 is right.

[UBerserker]

The Flak Cannon worked for me (weapon number . The Mercenaries found near the gate can be easily killed with two Chainsaw sweeps in the right moments.

[salsaSkaarj]

...
The Spinner boss also needs a hiding spot or something, as it is you either have enough ammo to blow it away with the Quadshot or you don't and get raped in a narrow space or fall back down (I did and killed it pretty easily, but you could easily get there without enough, even with the extra provided).

The Spinner boss gave me a big fright but 1 shot with the Quad and I backed down. The Boss follows down (but jerkily) and from then on the player has a huge advantage since he can easily retreat (even to outside).
That's why I wrote: "Hail the DP" - I basically didn't use any other ammo (and that's also why it took ages to kill him (or her).

[UBerserker]

I waited the elevator to return down when facing the Big Spinner. I was lucky.

[Sarevok]

UBerserker played this pack the way it was intended to be. I tried something different with gameplay, you had to fight smarter instead of always relying on the DP if you run out of ammo. Use the chainsaw when you can (its there for a reason ), explore everywhere, lots of little goodies lying around. I also tried something different with the gun progression instead of the usual DP, automag, stinger, ASMD...etc set up. Gameplay was challenging to do since the map is so small, I didn't want to cram a bunch of creatures with no sense of purpose. All feedback was very helpful and will be taken into consideration for the compilation and lastly the filesize will be shortened.

[zacman]

Sorry Scrag it was a combination of some laziness/lack of time/and not sure which files were needed. With 7 Bullets, Xidia, ONP, and Unreality installed I lost track of what files went with what. I agree with the OTT, which is the biggest reason I really didn't want to release this. 25 MB of files for 2 small maps with about 10 min of play time seemed ridiculous and silly to release. If it's a problem you don't have to include it with the compilation, I'd be fine with that. Honestly it would probably be better to not include this with the compilation as it would make things easier for everybody, but that's your call.

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