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| DM-TrialsOfFaith | | | Map Info |
| | | | File Name | dm-trialsoffaith.zip | | Author | Vatcilli zeitchef | | Gametype | UT Deathmatch | | Date Added | 07-20-2005 | | File Version | 1.00 | | File Size | 1.15 mb | | Player Count | 4-8 | | Map Description | This map was my first attempt to make a fine looking well playing map.
In this map I had to use everything I knew about UEd. It includes lensflares warpzones teleporters, pressure rooms and a Jailbreak classic. A crusher room.
It has every weapon in it as well as any powerup.
It has something for everyone, from sniper ventage points in the top of an ancient temple to narrow passageways for the flak. If you like redeemers there is 2 of them and plenty of space to use them in the (not so abandoned) Skaarj base. | | Review Rating | 6 | | User Rating | 7 | | Overall Rating | 7.0 |
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|  | | | | Review |
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DM-TrialsofFaith (UT99)
A huge map with different themes scattered throughout. Have faith in the visuals but not necessarily the gameplay…
AWE: 2.0
The author put a lot of work into the visual aspect of the map. To start, the textures are concentrated between semi-industrial/Skarrj and temple-based palettes. Roughly half of the map is located in a futuristic/alien Skarrj-themed lab? Station? Facility? Place-thing. What it is is not exactly clear but various species from Unreal populate various areas as a backdrop to the play area. This play area’s texturing pulls off the theme fairly well with distinctly Skarrj-based textures. They’re well chosen and fairly well aligned. The opposite half is reminiscent of the Skarrj making camp next to a former Nali temple, as was their wont in previous custom-made single player packs. The temple here is not really a temple, nor really Nali-themed, but it’s the closest the texture package have to offer so I’m going to run with that assumption. The texturing on this side of the map is, again, fairly well chosen and applied. There’s a fair bit of misalignments, though, these are restricted to the more complicated pieces of architecture. There’s a fair bit of trim missing, on the other hand, which is a bit of a disappointment considering how much effort obviously went into the visual department.
The lighting is really what brings out the character in the map. Sadly, not many lights are hotspotted, and there’s not much shadowing, but the author makes up for it with his rampant use of dynamic lights. Fortunately, these are not abused and are much more subtle than ‘in-your-face’. I felt that some of the green light areas were a little too ambient lit, but overall the lighting is fairly good, aside from the aforementioned lack of hotspotting and shadow work. Also, the lights are pretty standard through the map. The Skarrj side is pretty much green throughout, and the temple side is pretty much red throughout. I think a little more variation through each area would have been more effective. One very nice, although FPS-costly lighting feature is the custom fireflies.
The architecture ranges from almost noob-simplicity to fairly nice. The large open cylindrical Skarrj area is very basic and although I understand wanting to keep the framerate down while working with such a large area, I was much more impressed with the top of the elevator area in the skarrj section. The temple is also overly-simplistic in most areas and the curved stairway feels ‘amateurish’ in form. The outdoor areas are very nicely done, IMO.
So overall, the visuals are strongest in the lighting, although this is due much to the dynamic lights rather than more traditional lighting effects. The texturing is passable and interesting, and the architecture is a bit disappointing but shows promise overall.
BUILD: 2.5
The build here is really quite good. There are a good number of brushes off grid, but they produce no HOMs. The lifts and movers all work well with appropriate sounds. The many triggers are set up perfectly and work just fine. The traps and associated cameras are laid out well and function the same. The teleport zones worked a treat and were quite surprising when I first used them. The pathing was adequate and well-implemented. The map is appropriately zoned, but a few more could have helped – particularly in terms of the FPS in the outside area which plummets dramatically compared to the rest of the map. The sounds are scattered throughout the map and really aid in development of the map’s ambience. The only complaint I have is that there should have been more triggered sounds. And the one that was present was a bit too loud.
So in general, quite the nice build. Brushwork could have been set to grid better, a little more zoning, and a few more triggered sounds would have rounded out the build well.
CAST: 1.5
Despite the build and the visuals, the gameplay isn’t up to snuff in comparison. There certainly is a mix of hitscan and splash-damage flow areas, but they’re widely separated and overused in each section. There is z-axis, but it doesn’t really promote gameplay. Most of the Skarrj area will find you using hitscan on a level surface. Most of the temple area will find you using splash-damage weapons on either a level surface, or from a limited access vertical position. The only place that holds any z-axis gameplay interest is the redeemer area in the temple. Possibly also the sniper vantage point that looms over the outside area but, again, the outside area is where the worst FPS is, so…
The weapon loadout is pretty good and I don’t really have any complaints with it - except for the presence of 2 redeemers. Normally, placing a redeemer in a map is a somewhat tenuous proposition and placing two is usually breaking international law. Since the map is so large, and the redeemers are placed quite far away from each other, I think that having two, although not recommended, they don’t ‘break’ the gameplay as they would in maps of a lesser size. I would rather see one redeemer centrally located, rather than one at each end of the map. The map also contains two traps. A pressure room and a room which will shut you in and then move a laser field through you. Located conveniently nearby are two monitors to let you watch your diabolical handiwork. Although the traps are nicely implemented, the cameras are not quite the best way to implement viewing of the death. They take over your vision leaving you vulnerable to attack while you watch. Windows would have been better. The warp zones are implemented very well and really give a seamless transition between the two areas. Considering their relation to the space between them, they will really make you briefly question your sanity – or that of the map author – for seemingly seeing the same space you just left in front of you again. This could probably provide some interesting gameplay surprises until all players are accustomed to them.
There is a purple kicker in the temple area that is, unfortunately completely unnecessary. It kicks you up into a hollowed out space in the wall above it which blends into the wall in back of the kicker and above it, by dint of shadowing. So the area is almost completely dark which is extremely disorienting and doesn’t really add anything to gameplay. Sure, snipers may love the location, but one of the ‘unspoken rules’ regarding sniping positions in Unreal is to balance the sniper’s power of a prominent vantage point, by leaving an alternate route to them – preferably behind their backs – in order for them to be vulnerable at least a little bit. This is not the case here and the darkness just is not a good gameplay mechanic.
So in general the gameplay is somewhat mediocre. Nothing really bad, although some might argue the redeemer issue, but nothing really good, either. I do think this is one of the better implementations of warp zones I’ve seen, and the topography of the play area it’s situated in makes that area interesting. But the rest of the map is really too flat, or two exaggerated to really make excellent use of.
Overall TrialsofFaith is a half-way decent map. It certainly contains some interesting visuals and environments. Unfortunately the architecture and the textureing, although aren’t bad, aren’t as good as the lighting. The lighting relies heavily on dynamics which is nice, but reduces framerate. The build is quite good in comparison with only some minor complaints. The gameplay, like the visuals, seems to have potential but doesn’t really live up to initial impressions either. The most promising area deals with warp zones, and there are a few interesting traps, but these are countered by some lacking z-axis and hitscan-heavy gameplay areas. Perhaps download it for the pretty, or perhaps download it for the warp zone area. But it’s not a must-download. Still, the author has interesting ideas and I’m looking forward to another one by him.
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| | | | Map Comments |
| GenMoKai
07-21-2005 02:51 PM MDT | Rating: 7.5 | | nice job on your third map
the are some good points and some bad points
good points
-nice architecture for a beginner ;)
-nice lighing
-VERY nice skybox (better then mine)
-like the traps
-bots do pretty well
bad points
-at some places it looks a bit ''standard''
-those ''blades'' in the skaarj base DONT dmg or KILL
in other words, its a nice map and try
ill will be soft for you ;) because i know you
| IndySkyz
07-21-2005 02:29 PM MDT | Rating: 7 | | Not a bad map, you can see alot of work went into the special efects and traps, it has some nice looking spots like the green elevator room with glass cieling, but also some very plain looking spots with alot of flat one textured floors, as for the gameplay it would probably be fun with 12 or more online, alittle to big and confusing tho, seems more like a SP map than a DM.
| Vatcilli zeitchef
07-21-2005 04:15 PM MDT | | I know about the flat parts but after the keg brige and the lava gap I could not find anything else to decorate the rooms with.
Yeah strangly the blades have a bug though I set them to cruchWhenEncroach and a damage of 10000.
If anyone knows how to do this, tell me.
BTW yes the map looks more like sp than you think ;)
did anyone look through the window in the green litten room? you should see two patroling skaarj a krall a dancing Mercenary and a brute. Couldn't help it!
| Jebidiah
07-21-2005 10:03 PM MDT | Rating: 5.5 | | Sorry to be a party pooper, but I just can't go up to a 7 score. This map does indeed have a lot of work in it, but the quality is inconsistent.
To me, this arena looks like a learning excercise. Different themes are mixed, with an old-ish lava section as well as a tech-y base. The lava section needed some help, in my opinion, being composed mainly of rectangular halls and ramps, with little architectural detail or variation. Plus, thanks to a warpzone, you can climb endlessly through this section. Huh? Being one of the dimmer bulbs in the bunch, I did this for quite a while to see what was at the top! The skaarj base looked much better, and the curved entry room with a glass ceiling looked great! If only the rest of the map had stuck to that standard... Looking through the window at the skaarj mercenary was cool, though. Outside appeared decent, but the wall texture was much to repetitive for my liking.
Gameplay really didn't have anything to offer. Everything besides the lava section seemed far to wide open, and nothing really seemed to have a planned layout. It seemed to be more of a sprawling collection of test rooms than one consistent map to me.
Don't get me wrong, I see a lot of potential here. As I said, certain areas looked very good, but the inconsistency just threw me off. Maybe this will appeal more to others, but I think that the author could certaintly produce some good maps by focusing on a well-thought out theme and layout. I'll have an eye out for next time! :-)
| kais
07-22-2005 04:13 AM MDT | Rating: 6.5 | | The maps looks ok, there are a lot of nice traps/actions etc. in it, but that doesn't really add to the gameplay - wich isn't that good, also I think the textures in the 'slime-room' are somewhat plain.
| Syex
07-22-2005 07:53 PM MDT | Rating: 10 | | Damn good map!
Much more than the screenshots.
| redfist
08-05-2005 02:29 PM MDT | Rating: 4.5 | | It is good and all,but with the old old textures being used along with such big plain open areas,this map didn't do it for me.
Not that I need eyecandy and appreciat the stuff in there instead of a bland DM nothing ,no tricks or movers in maps is like playing ut2004,dull mindless mappage.
The effects and things you did in there are holding the level up,but I am going to post a 4.5 it probably should be a higher score ,but things don't feel right somehow in there,still worth playing and checking it out though.
| marton xerx.
08-07-2005 02:59 PM MDT | Rating: 8 | | i think that this map is good maded and i see that there are beautifull lightning is in the level so i have given an 8 to it and i'm gonna play this level for sure and there a good special effects in it
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