DM-Tree-of-Ages
Map Info
	File Name dm-tree-of-ages-v2.zip Author ]BMR[VorLoN Gametype UT2k3 Deathmatch Date Added 12-22-2002 File Version 2.00 File Size 2.96 mb Player Count 2-10 Map Description 2nd version of this map changes: 2 bugs fixed, optimized some static meshes and polycount, new textures, other minor changes Have Phun! Review Rating 8 User Rating 8 Overall Rating 8
Review
Reviewer Twrecks Awe Score:  3.0/3 Date 12-28-2002 Build Score:  2.5/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  2.5/3 User Point:  0 Overall Score:  8/10 A fresh looking organic map of familiar features, DM-Tree-of-ages combines an open air forest set with an combat arena of ramps and platforms surrounding a very large tree. Some of the natural effects, like the streaming sunlight are very well done. Additional Aboreal architecture provides the combat perches plus a few custom meshes that includes a large mushroom. What will get this map recognition is the blend between the skybox and navigatable architecture, looks good so naturally players will feel good about the gameplay. Just goes to show you what meshes can do for detail levels. Minimal BSP, abundant mesh use, and good pairing of antiportals maintains good framates. While meshes don't have the same quality of light mapping as the old BSP way of building architecture, this map provides us with ample contrasts and plenty of vantage points to explore. On points... The Antalus spikes did feel out of place but works to draw the player's eyes upwards. My main beef would be the killing zone beneath, to simply expode when falling off seems over-simplified. While this does speed gameplay is the less dramatic of choices. Flow will be the toughest foe to beat in this map. I found myself searching for oppenents more often than I'd like. With no central rooms or passage ways, there is no easy way to survey for your next victim. The verticle distances allow prey to escape before a safe descent can be made. For those who favor the Death-from-Above way to victory, sniping is not very well supported and the organic curves obscure line of sight weapons reducing combat options to heated chases and surpise encounters. This is not a bad thing, because the architecture also allows you to flee the hunt and return to being the hunter after some foraging. Speaking of foraging, item placement is well done and enough health present to speed your recovery. In closing, the visuals win out over most other maps I've seen, the spiralling ramps about a central structure a time proven layout, and With the recommended 4-8 players DM-Tree-of-ages will provide ample pleasure and a favorable replayability factor for those looking for a middle ground between open terrain maps and close indoor maps.
Map Comments
1/2LuNaTiC 12-22-2002 08:30 PM MST Rating: 6   A very cool map. Great to see some new static meshes and textures. Only reason im not giving it an extremely high score because gameplay is "OK". Plenty of Z axis but there isnt much room to dodge unless your on the lower level. You should still try it though. mersil 12-23-2002 12:09 AM MST Rating: 10   AWSOME MAP THERE . NICE JOB EvilVey 06-01-2003 05:20 AM MDT Rating: 9   Definate pro quality. Should have been in the original game instead of Tokara Forest (sorry...hate low grav!) Real good job! UPDATE: I didn't think you could improve much on the original, but you did with flying colors! Love the new textures! Awesome map! Shadowlurker 12-23-2002 03:29 AM MST Rating: 5   The lightens ok, the blue colours should have been used more and the colour strengthened The yellow colour everywhere is slightly offputting, and rather overall, but it's okish. Gameplay is very forced upon, not tight, not nearly. The gameplay seems to take place is a can shape, which is ok, but lacks variety of movement. LuiMo 01-08-2003 03:40 AM MST Rating: 10   Ahhh, enemies everywhere :) IMO gameplay is very very cool, because nowhere you can feel safe, and death is raining from above. This map is one of my favourites, awesome graphics and gameplay, what else do you want? Just give it a look, you won`t be disappointed !!! GREAT MAP. Edit: Congrats for the ownage award !! @kryptic: Than go on playing SupaMario instead of UT2k3, and stop writing useless comments. Luggage 12-23-2002 10:13 AM MST Rating: 5   Nice map, I love the setting. :) (You stole my idea btw :p) ...gameplay could have used more consideration though. I love the orangish light everywhere :) Keep on mapping dude, you'll get leet in no time, with those ideas... Nathillien 12-23-2002 03:52 PM MST Rating: 10   Marvelous map. My absolute number one deathmach map so far. Very good gameplay, exelent visuals and much fun. lvlorpheus 12-23-2002 08:02 PM MST Rating: 8   Great map and a good balance between looks and gameplay! Kee-Runch!!! 12-24-2002 09:21 AM MST Rating: 6   I'm going to agree with 1/2Lunatic's comments on this map. It plays well but I think where the flak cannon is seriously encourages camping it...especially since the flak cannon totally dominates this map (IMHO). Very good job, by the way! This mapper has a lot of talent! Agent X 12-29-2002 01:41 AM MST Rating: 6   Not an 8, but a nicely done average map {DAM}MoxNix 12-29-2002 04:07 AM MST Rating: 6   Looks good... Gameplay not so good. 1/2Lunatic's comments pretty much nailed it on the head. All kinds of Z-axis action but very little X/Y action. His first map, EternalDeath (IMO, the best 3rd party DM map so far), though an excellent map, is a bit lacking in z-axis action. This, his second map, is very much the opposite. Overcompensation maybe? Probably... I expect he'll get it exactly right next time and really look forward to seeing his next map. :) Trailblazer 12-29-2002 08:28 AM MST Rating: 10   10.0 fullstop I beat my neigboor on a LAN by 50-30 here hehe, while usually the difference is slim, so TOP MAP for me :) SirTahngarth 12-29-2002 10:33 AM MST Rating: 9   simply gorgeous, and stellar gameplay make this one rocking DM map- heck i hate plain deathmatch, but I love this map! lpBuF 12-29-2002 11:04 AM MST Rating: 8   this is an excelent map, I had it in my maps folder long before i came across it here on NC. It looks great, uve used all kinda meshes from lots of packs with new textures and they all fit together well, the gameplay is good too , reminds me of DM-Peak sometimes, with its tight walkways :) And It runs well too !! :D mappers seem to forget about antiportals these days, glad u didnt :) There was one bug i noticed with the trees surrounding the level, they sometimes flickered , kinda like 2 had been overlapped eactly , i dunno if this is fixable or no , but its nothing major. Nice map good sir :D Gus 12-29-2002 09:14 PM MST Rating: 7   Nice map except one fault I found, the Health Keg Support, you can enter the pillar of it at the base. Where you are invunerable to all attacks and if your skin is small enough can hide there. ed: he now knows about that bug, just had a reply from him. Bot40 12-31-2002 09:29 AM MST Rating: 8   I downloaded it and I'm bored so I'll write my own review. Visually, the map is very nice. The retextured default meshes look very nice allthough it doesn't hide the fact that they are the default meshes. Geometry wise, the map is very well built and coherent. Only things that feel out of place are the jumppads and telelporters imo. They would be better if they looked more 'ancient'. Also, some custom weapon/health bases would be nice (see DM-Refuge). Lighting however could prolly use some tweaking. Like shadowlurker said, more of the blue lights would be nicer. Also, if they had a more subtle blue colour they could look 'cooler' and give a better contrast with the overal hot atmosphere. The ambient sounds are quite nice, but I would like to see more sounds and louder. More birds singing and stuff. Soundtrack suits the map, a bit of a no-brainer tho :) For Environment I'd give it a 8.5/10 because there is a few things that could be improved and I don't think that it's really worthy of the 9/10 which is what a near perfect map gets. This map is just not perfect.Period. Gameplay seemed very different to most stuff I've played before. You can get a nice mixture of close range fighting around the main tree trunk, and also distance fighting if you stick the the outer platforms which is good. The flow of the map could be improved though. I found that the bots kept using the teleporter to go up to the flak cannon, the dropping down the the lower tele. then back up again...This seemed to be the main route that they stuck to and I found myself doing the same for some reason ;). Maybe shifting the lower teleporter to the other side of the tree would help prevent this. Also, I found that I frequently passed the rocketlauncher (upper one), and only a few times did I reach the shock rifle. Seeing that the roket launcher is more of an all rounder weapon that anyone can use and that the shock rifle is more of a specialist weapon, it might be best to switch them round so that the current shock rifle area gets more traffic. And people are more willing to spread over the map in order to get the RL. Also, I found that there was a lack of shock ammo (you don't like the shock rifle do you :p), I only actually noticed 1 shock core apart from the 2 that are next to the rifle iteslf. Health placement is good, there is always one nearby just as you need it, or at least a few vials to keep you going till you find a health pack. For gameplay, I give it a 8/10. It's new and interesting, certainly a very refreshing experience for UT2k3, but the small flaws annoy me sufficiently and with a bit more testing I think it could have been improved up to an 8.5 or a 9 Technically, the map is excellent. It ran on my POS computer very well and considering the detail in the map I'd say that's a very good achivement. I give it a 9/10 in that department Since I gotta give the map an overall score (which I don't like doing cuz imo, you can't compare/combine gameplay and environment. They are totally different things.) I give it an 8.5 rounded down to an 8 cuz I don't think it's quite worth the 9/10 which is what an almost perfect map should get and there are too many small flaws for it to get the 8 :p btw, lol @ AcIdN0oB. Obviously didn't read my comment so I'll quote the old one...I'm downloading now, then I can give a more indepth opinion... And my comment was soley on the maps visuals, I never said anything about the atmosphere or gameplay of the map. And yes, if you have a clue what makes a good map or not, you can tell 90% about a maps looks from the screens. AcIdPhReAk 12-30-2002 07:38 AM MST Rating: 9   lol? rating a map by showing the shots?! f00lish n00b! it's simply real pro mapping! can u do also such thing??? i can't believe... all in all marvelously style and fine gameplay... Goomp 12-30-2002 05:01 PM MST Rating: 9   Awesome map !!! This is one of the most beautiful maps I've ever played ! In most aspects, it's better than the maps which shipped with the retail game. Lots of fast-paced Z axis fighting and interesting level design make this level a great freakin' fraggin' experience !!! Must have ! And I didn't mention that this map has perfect framerates on my old comp with high detail settings :) If you don't download this map, you're really stupid ! jingles 12-31-2002 03:21 PM MST Rating: 9   Same as most of the comments here, a very good map indeed ! Bots are pathed well and pick up most things they come across. Will definately stay in my map list. hunter 01-01-2003 08:51 AM MST Rating: 8   damn good. usually you either have a good layout or a good looking level. this has both. a must download. koreyj 01-02-2003 03:52 AM MST Rating: 10   At first, I thought this would be a Tokara Forest ripoff. Then I played the map. Simply brilliant. It compliments Tokara very well. kryptik 01-03-2003 12:49 AM MST Rating: 6   Decent gameplay, IMO the colors are a little oversaturated and a lot of the meshes don't fit into the map. I would have less colored lights [blue?] and more natural lighting. The flow is ok, but a little too much vertical movement and not enough horizontal [remember that it is very hard to shoot UP]. The little hill-platform things [whatever they are] remind me of Mario 64 in a bad, bad way. [morpheus] 01-09-2003 11:50 AM MST Rating: 9   This map has a soul. Fuzzy Logic 01-12-2003 06:15 AM MST Rating: 9   Great looking map. One of the most exciting maps I've played in a long time. Have to mark it down a point though cos once I get the Flak mahem ensues a bit too easily. Maybe the bots tend to favour the lower level a bit too much also. Makes Tokara Forest look and play dull. -=Gemmeni=- 01-15-2003 09:26 AM MST Rating: 10   This map is fun but it dont work to well on my computer. NickUTChampion 01-15-2003 12:45 PM MST Rating: 8   Nice level. I really like this level. Keep going make good levels. jp 01-18-2003 02:59 PM MST Rating: 8   Very good in any aspect, can't wait for his next one. Morphias 01-25-2003 10:30 PM MST Rating: 0   Please exclude my rating, how long is this map going to be MAP OF THE WEEK, 3 months or more. Come on, lets see a new map of the week, each week, not every few weeks. ]BMR[VorLoN 05-10-2003 10:45 AM MDT   w00t? Hourences 01-26-2003 10:02 AM MST Rating: 8   there arent enough leet maps to have a new map of the week/month every week ... cool map, nicely executed idea, more or less original :) DocEDo 01-26-2003 12:45 PM MST Rating: 5   Cramped, repetetive, somewhat original. In general too small, without much to see. A sad attempt to beat Tokara. David Spalinski 02-05-2003 05:59 PM MST Rating: 6   I didn't like this map one bit. I guess I hate teleporters. Its not as bad as aqua or aqua 2 though. Aggressor 02-06-2003 02:53 PM MST Rating: 7   Visually beautiful, but it just doesn't seem to fit my DM appetites really. I cannot explain what exactly was wrong, I simply wasn't drawn that much into the action. Perhaps better for some Z axis freaks or a 1on1 map. Draco 03-15-2003 04:06 PM MST Rating: 10   Great idea. Play around a tree with a wonderfull atmosphere -={JUDGE}=- 03-16-2003 03:33 AM MST Rating: 8   Very nice map.. great fun .. and excellent theme. What more do you want from a custom map eh? {Di}AnArKi 04-07-2003 01:37 AM MDT Rating: 3   look i know that this is a real good looking map,but face it it plays like (****).Hands down this is the best looking map out there,but guys if you cant play it then,what is it for.i have a good system it is not the best.2000+xp-512 ddr ram-ti200 gf3 128 ddr ram,and it runs real fat and no one on the server could play with it.i have a vsk gaming server,so it is not the server or my system.i would like to see maps reviewed not only on looks but game play too.so i give it a 3 for all around.for looks it a big 10 yupalisk 04-18-2003 11:16 PM MDT Rating: 3   I thought there could never be enough z-axis, but then this vertical nightmare came along! Nothing like running UP the map (which is what you'll do most of the time) like a screw to the top, only to be pill spammed by the first "king of the hill". The teleporter is just there to balance an unbalanced top section. Even the dreaded Tokara Forest has better flow than this map, and I utterly hate that map! Chrysaor 04-19-2003 01:51 AM MDT Rating: 8   I'm surprised to see such a varied response to the map. kobrakai 05-04-2003 11:17 AM MDT Rating: 8   easily one of the top DM maps released for UT2003 that I've downloaded. Hours of fun with this one. Foxpaw 05-31-2003 10:33 PM MDT Rating: 6   This map was pretty good but I didn't like it as much as Tokara.. it didn't run as quickly and didn't seem to have the same "natural" feel. DialAJunk 06-01-2003 05:17 AM MDT Rating: 7   The first version looked better with crisper textures, but the second one lends itself to a faster frame rate and the teleporters work with the latest patch, so thats good. The song remains the same, however, and servers really need to get this latest release. Obi-Wan 06-15-2003 09:24 AM MDT Rating: 8   original tree map make tummy feel good!! or whatever Shao 06-18-2003 03:14 PM MDT Rating: 10   Maps From the Lord of The Ring. m-streme 07-10-2003 11:53 AM MDT Rating: 10   For those who didn't download it yet: just do it! phalanx 07-16-2003 09:31 AM MDT Rating: 10   this map is the roxxors darkjaxx 07-17-2003 08:36 AM MDT Rating: 7   Background is very c00l, but it isn't stil the level with best gameplay... Mwoah, this level should be downloaded He's OkaY Bloodline 09-08-2003 07:46 PM MDT Rating: 9   This map kicks bloody ass! Its the killer diller. I play using Excessive, Low Gravity, Turbo,& Quadjump. Its a blast! Zyero 11-30-2003 12:56 PM MST Rating: 5   mmm to me its too twisted out,too big not a map for me.(i like short and bloody:D) Sicko Teddy 01-30-2004 05:33 PM MST Rating: 10   OH brother..... Don't rate it then!! Who the heck cares what maps you like, what you like to eat, how do you like to sleep .... etc. Low rating is given for some things the map lacks, and how the author can improve it. I give 10 because it deserves 10. everything is aligned, well lit , and bots are well pathed. The gameflow is good, no FPS problems.