The Drop | mari@macintosh.garden
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| Release type | Build time | Monster count | Secret count | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of DM4Jam | March 2-March 18, 2018 | 37/54/62 | 7 | ZIP |
The Inspiration
So as it turns out, I inspired DM4Jam. I was toying around with the Quake: Update idea, and dumptruck_ds (you know him for his Quake mapping tutorials nowadays) was inspired to start an entire jam around remixing DM4, one of Quake's six built-in deathmatch maps, from it. I wasn't originally intending to take part, but in learning that, I decided to pick apart what I liked about DM4 and make my own singleplayer rendition of it.
I figured DM4's appeal (and I do think it's visually aged the best of all the deathmatch maps, even if it's not the most-played of them) boiled down to five main elements:
- Layering and verticality with a lot of dropping and very little rising
- The angular geometry
- The blue texture theme
- Copious amounts of lava for environmental hazards
- Teleporters as a way to navigate back up the map
The Construction
By now, I'd gotten quite accustomed to TrenchBroom's wonders, so that was my editor of choice for this build. I focused a lot on weirdly-shaped rooms, some symmetrical, some not, and reusing rooms for multiple encounters as the stage goes on. This map really made me enjoy vertical progression, fighting on multiple planes, enemies overhead and occasionally underneath you, so to this day, I always try to make sure the player is either fighting upwards or downwards. The beginning and ends of the level stray from the DM4 texture theme, and wind tunnels are used to glue disparate sections together.
Something that really stressed me out was that I had absolutely no idea how to end the level. I originally thought to end it with a monster arena, but it was big and dark, boring, and how to beat the stage from it wasn't clear. On the very last day, I came up with the lava swim section, sort of an homage to E1M8, and that was a big highlight for me. Unfortunately, the version of the level that shipped with DM4Jam doesn't have a respawning Pentagram of Protection, making the level unwinnable if the player can't find both buttons within 30 seconds. (I patched that and some other bugs for the DM4DLC version, which is what's featured for download on this page.)
The Retrospective
I still really like this one. It has its faults: some of the secrets are a little obscure, and the level is structured around "sawtooths" (areas that prevent backtracking), so if you miss kills or secrets, you can't go back and get them later. (The way I used the wind tunnels doesn't help; Quake's "The Wind Tunnels" stage loops back to the same main area from each tunnel output through another pipe, while mine are one-way.) I also had a guy who was weirdly irritated at the flat, detailless ceiling in the main room; needless to say, I was on a time limit, so visuals weren't my top priority.
I am proud of this one, though. Other people in the pack had levels that were way more inventive or were a whole lot more detailed visually, but none of the maps feel like mine to play, and I take pride in that. (I don't know if there's a bad map in the bunch, be sure to play them all!) This was also my first experience with NewHouse, who's the only guy from the Quake singleplayer mapping scene I keep in touch with, and someone who'd recruit me to map for him later on...