DM-Honesty
Map Info
	File Name dm-honesty.zip Author Orion(Co30) Gametype UT Deathmatch Date Added 12-29-2003 File Version 1.00 File Size 1.07 mb Player Count 8 to 12 Map Description A curvy elegant spaceship travelling at high speed through hyperspace Review Rating 4.5 User Rating 6.5 Overall Rating 5.5
Review
Reviewer Frieza Awe Score:  1.5/3 Date 01-02-2004 Build Score:  1.5/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  1.5/3 User Point:  +1 Overall Score:  5.5/10 When I saw this map appear in the Latest Additions list I just knew I had to review this one. Finally something else then all that Richrig crap we get thrown under by these days. Finally something organic (My favourite style of architecture), finally something different. The map has visual appeal, but not everything is as good as I had expected. Read on… DM-Honesty is a map by Francois Lacombe aka Orion(Co30), and I beleive, looking at his list of submitted maps, his first UT1 map. The battle takes place on a spaceship travelling through hyperspace and the map has everything present for some fast gameplay: Teleporters, z-axis, jumppads… Off with the introduction, on with the review! The basic architecture is in a very nice, curvy, organic style that I really liked, but the map lacks some distinct detail. There is hardly any trimming present, but these for example could’ve made the map look a lot smoother than it is in it’s current state. Furthermore the walls are pretty flat, thought curvy. It would have been nice if it got broken up more by pillars (But ofcourse then the polycount would get even higher then it is now). Another thing I don’t like is the water, what on earth is it with water and space? It’s just a misfit! The lighting is really below average. Throughout the whole level theres a custom lightmesh used with a green lensflare in it, but it emits white light, as does every other light in the map. They are all white, and white is boring. If the green lights actually had emitted green light it could be a lot more interesting, though I am not sure wether it would’ve fitted correctly and wether it, in that case, wouldn’t have been nicer if the author would’ve used blue lights instead? (I am so sorry for that incredibly fucked up long sentence :P ) Texturing was so-so. There were some misalignments and a few horrible looking texture cuts, mainly where the upper walkways of the main room encroach with the wall texture. Furthermore, I found the choice of textures pretty bad. They don’t fit together and in the way they are used they make the level look downright ugly in places. He used a lot of the old Unreal textures, like Ancient, DecayedS and Starship. The overall gameplay is fine but yet again there are a lot of mistakes made. First of all, in my opinion an unforgivable mistake, is the fact that the author gives a botcount of higher then 8 for better gameplay, but this results in telefrags, because the total number of playerstarts is 10 ! Next time place more playerstarts or modify the botcount because if you put it like this people think that a playercount of 16 will work as well. The flow is decent, enough z-axis, no dead ends, and the teleporters and warpzones are used the right way. The item placement is another so-so. All weapons are in there twice (Except for the redeemer and the enforcer, which are represented once), and all the ammopacks are close to the weapons. So instead of having the player hunt for their ammo, Orion made it really easy to have a weapon full of ammo, which doesn’t evolve the gameplay. Health is right on the mark. Special pick-ups are again so-so. The armor, shiledbelt and Udamage are ALL in the water and aren’t in spots you’d really call high risk. The bots play fine, they get everything (Including the redeemer), they get everywere and they kick your ass. Good work here. I could hardly find any ambient sounds. Except for the teleporters and jumppads there aren’t any sounds to be heard at all. The music is standard UT music, in this case Skyward, and it fits just fine. Conclusion: This map really has the potential to become something great, but there are just to many painful mistakes to allow for a higher score then it currently gets. It’s original, inspirative, but just poorly executed at times. I really encourage the mapper to make more of these kind of maps. Just spend a little more time on things as lighting and item placement. It could’ve been great, now it just turns out average. Awe: 1.5 Build: 1.5 Cast: 1.5
Map Comments
horned demon 12-29-2003 03:36 PM MST Rating: 7   chould use a bit more color variety, but for the most part it was pretty fun. kinda has a space age theme to it witch i usally injoy. Manticore 12-30-2003 09:09 AM MST Rating: 9   Nice map.... Great map. Interesting visual style and gameplay that just won't quit. Some nice touches like the blue to red shift on the starfield. theBAMNman 12-30-2003 10:01 PM MST Rating: 6   Pretty well done arena map (meaning more fun-oriented than strategy-oriented). The architecture is spectacular, with curves everywhere. This does pump up the polys, but my video card could handle it. Gameplay was good for this type of map: very fast-paced and fun. There were some nice touches (such as the blue to red gradient in the stars), but overall the map lacked visual detail. That's not too much of a problem for this type of map, but it's still a problem. The items are done with good ideas in mind (there's more health on the bottom floor than on the top), but some things I personally didn't like (4 ammos next to every weapon). Also, the scale is a bit too big, and I didn't really like the extensive use of teleporters/warpzones/kickers. But the first makes the second a necessity. I think the author has great visual ideas and he should develop the gameplay to a more strategic level (which only comes with experience), so I'll definitely be looking out for this name later (for non-2k3 maps ;)). XepptizZ 12-31-2003 06:58 PM MST Rating: 7   How did you make the curved path? Anyways, the map is nice, a bit demanding my vid card and personally the ship isn't that elegant. I didn't like the kickers. Orion(Co30) 01-03-2004 03:53 PM MST   Thanks Frieza, this was an interesting review. I will not debate the points you made, they were all good and justified. I just want to make three points of my own First, DM-Honesty is not the first UT1 map I've submitted. There are 7 others on NaliCity, but they are under the name OrionCo30, without the brakets. Second, I used old Unreal textures because this map was first made for Unreal and has later been adapted for UT. I may rework it and retexture it to give it a better and more coherent look. I'll also give the lighting more relief and add what every good spaceship needs, like a bridge, crew quarters, an engine room, etc,. There's plenty of space in the map's architecture to fit those in. Third, you are not the first to point out my habit of putting ammo close to the weapons. This is something I do mainly in deatmatch maps because having to hunt for ammo during a match is something I dislike. I try to put powerups in places that are more secluded or harder to reach though. I suppose this comes down to a question of taste. Taydawg 01-01-2004 01:53 PM MST Rating: 7   nice brushwork :thumbsup.gif: but yes could use a little bit more colour. the name Honesty had me confused at first before i clicked to see it. (i thought it was a church! :P) Fuzzy Logic 01-02-2004 01:27 PM MST Rating: 5   Plays well enough. Interesting design but not as spectacular as it could have been. Frieza 01-04-2004 05:38 AM MST Rating: 5   It was an interesting map for sure. I didnt know about your other UT maps so pardon me :) If you let the player hunt for his ammo you encourage him to walk around the map and not stay in one point enhancing the gameplay, even if youd ont like it :P And the special items were kindof close together. Anyway, its still a special map :) redfist 08-09-2004 11:08 PM MDT Rating: 7.5   Wow,nice lighting,and the curved walkways ,kinda like hyperblast and deck but it's done so different it looks like it's a different game. You are an artist. Nice mappage