Found a bug in Necromancer's Swamp. I was in what i assume is the last boss fight in the circular arena area, laying into the big dude with the super nailgun, when he raised his sword and summoned some lightning. Then this:

CALL2 402(setmodel)setmodel() monsters.qc : monsterspawn <NO FUNCTION> no precache: progs/mongaunt.mdl Host_Error: Program error Client player removed

A couple of the maps (Shadesmaster's -- the one you're mentioning there -- and Artistical's) have had bugfix/improvement revisions since the release of this pack.

I originally saw them on Discord, dunno if they've been uploaded elsewhere, so I've got them here: https://neogeographica-downloads.s3.amazonaws.com/tools/quakestarter/hwjam3_fixes.zip

I have played only a couple of these maps yet, but wanted to congratulate Entsoy for creating "Approach of the Second Sun". A really refreshing new experience on Quake mapping, and that's no small feature.

Johnny Law, thanks for the fixes!

... Oh, my gawds. The Vileduct... so beautiful. I'm just disappointed the elevator doesn't go all the way up; I'd love to see this one fleshed out with accessible building interiors and another level up.

This is a very impressing map pack.

Only one of the maps completely beat me ("Us") - that was too much like a good, old-fashioned LSD trip to me. You could nearly taste the colour nine... All the other maps, each in their own way, contained elements of new thinking and new angles. That these keep popping up after nearly 25 years, is quite remarkable.

If a revised mappack (including the bugfixes mentioned elsewhere) is uploaded at some time in the future, i would appreciate if AD is not included - i'm stuck with a old ADSL modem and very limited bandwith. It should be enough to mention AD as a prequisite, and provide a link, please

All in all: very good.

Okay, so I screwed up and saved Us over my only save point. How the *$#@!?! do you get out of that level? And what kind of drugs is quasiotter taking?

This is a fantastic, and really interesting map-pack.

Marks the debut of a 'Haunted Makkon' texture style - sort of like quake haunted village meets tim burton. Colourful, almost cartoony in places.

Shadesmaster, Makkon, Strideh and Mista Heita all use this look to produce four excellent maps that form the thematic backbone of this jam.

Shadesmaster throws everything at the wall - every new AD monster in 1.8, jump-boots and these annoying poison spiders that can be really deadly. It works because of the lovely 'hub' centerpiece (very dark souls firelink shrine) and an ott heretic/hexen soundtrack that actually gels with the super-colourful Makkon textures. Sort of a 'what if Hexen II had been good' kind of level.

Makkon's level is a lovely bit of key hunting and two tough set piece ambushes. What I really loved with his own take on his textures is that he pushed the surreal 'floating' take on this set into something that looked like the American Mcgee Alice games - again, something that really works with this look.

Strideh takes the look and tones it down into something closer to a 'classic quake' atmosphere. Strideh always nails his maps with polish, and they're always reasonable lengths that never outstay their welcome. The portal effect at the end is jaw-droppingly beautiful - I'd like to see a whole episode that uses that technique.

Finally, Mister Heita - I think this is a debut? In which case, don't stop doing what you're doing. One one level, it's a beautiful, polished and tight quake map in its own right. But it does three completely new things (three!) which push the envelope in terms of gameplay.

It has story-led intro with character dialogue. And it actually works! Introducing you to new concepts, the back story, your mission, etc. Great Quake-gothic atmosphere too.

A new mechanic. Granted, the full potential of this isn't explored, but a 'ghost mode' where you can pass through certain objects but can't attack anything is brilliant, and I want to see more of it!

Dynamic music! Again, not used enough in Quake, and the track choices are a little jarring - but my god, I want to see more of this used in Quake maps when an ambush is sprung or an arena/boss fight starts.

Outside of these four, the quality is a little mixed or experimental. I do want to shout out to Xeo's map 'The Banquet' though - a punchy debut, with a lovely horror concept (camp but not TOO camp) great atmosphere and well-judged combat. Can't wait to see more from Xeo - and wouldn't mind an expanded/more detailed version of the Banquet as a separate release.

All in all, a jam well worth downloading.

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Greenwood's The Well of Damned Souls (hwjam3_greenwood) is a remake of, and substantial upgrade on, Michael Reed's Well of Lost Souls. It was fun to play through an old friend again, and for it to feel fairly fresh. Plus everything is better with Arcane Dimensions!

In fact, I just replayed the original Well of Lost Souls and it's striking what a shot-for-shot remake Greenwood's map is!

I was really enjoying Necromancer's Swamp (hwjam3_shades) right up to the final (I assume) arena battle with the big boss and his spider minions ... but then the game crashed, saying: CALL2 402(setmodel)setmodel() monsters.qc : monster_spawn <NO FUNCTION> no precache: progs/mon_gaunt.mdl Host_Error: Program error Does anyone know how to fix this?

Ah, OK, I should have read the earlier comments. I see there is an updated release that fixes this.

Yep, that fixed it — and, happily, my old save file was still good for the new version of the map. Thanks, Johnny Law!

The Vileduct (hwjam3_makkon) is properly lovely, a Quake level that looks like no other Quake level — which after a quarter of a century is really saying something! It plays nicely, too, though it does feel badly underpopulated, and could probably sustain about twice as many enemies as are actually present. The division of the ground-level houses into red, green, yellow and purple quadrants only becomes properly clear right at the end, when you can look down from the upper bridge, which gives a nice sense of closure.

The Banquet (hwjam3_xeo) is beautiful to look at, and fun as far as it goes, but it does feel a little disjointed and arbirary — with a lot of permanently locked doors that look like the might lead somewhere interesting, but never do. Nice final combat, though. That triple shotgun never gets old.

A Dead Man's Favor (hwjam3_mh) was a refeshingly different experience, with the first part of the map played as a ghost who can walk through gratings but is unable to interact physcially with the surroundings. I enjoyed the often brutal gameplay, but felt that things were slightly spoiled by the inappropriate music: pulse-pounding when what was called for was something more eerie.

Blackvenom Retreat (hwjam3_pinchy) is an oddly unsatisfying experience. It takes place mostly in a good sized outdoor open structure over a lake, where monsters are visible from far off and can sniped — but can also snipe you. This leads to what I found an unfulfulling combat style where ammo exhaustion was the main risk. I liked it, but didn't love it.

First Moon (hwjam3_mobin) is very short at just 14 kills, but reasonably sweet. It will only take two or three minutes to complete, but they're quite enjoyable minutes.

Abbeytoire (hwjam3_strideh) is a really nice, atmospheric piece of work, using textures that are new to me to create a setting that feels refreshingly ominous. I could quibble that it shuts of some areas after you've been through them (preventing me from picking up the blue armour), and that the final confrontation is a bit anti-climactic; but that's by the by. This was fun and satisfying.

The Apothecaro (hwjam3_nyo) is small, disjointed and difficult to read — there are lots of buttons and their purposes are not already easy to read. In particular, I only realised right at the end what the silver and gold keys were for, because the pillars that they operate were not visibly cued. Not my favourite map of the jam so far.

I really enjoyed the unnamed map hwjam3_vbs — but WHY WAS IT UNNAMED? I know this is not a huge deal, but seriously people: NAME YOUR MAPS. It takes, what, thirty seconds?

Aaanyway, with that said: initially I found it bafflng and alienating to wake up in a house surrounded by zombies and dogs, with nowhere near enough ammo to to take them all out. But once I'd settled into it, trying to stay alive in this hostile landscape for long enough to power up became its own unique challenge. Breaking into the factory allowed me to leave the zombies and dogs behind, to return to later. But careful balancing of ammo provision meant that the factory remained challenging almost to the end.

Does anyone know the legitimate way to get up on top of the roof where the axe of shadows is?

I am stuck in Approach of the Second Sun (hkjam3_entsoy). I've got all the runes and gone into the tower, and reached the book that says "we must kil all potential champions". But after that there's just a corridor to another room, then a few more corridors that end in blocked ends. What am I missing?

@MikeTaylor re: "Does anyone know the legitimate way to get up on top of the roof where the axe of shadows is?" Legitimize rocket jumping! ;)

Really cool maps. THANKS. Usually I don't like jams since they are way too diversive & inconsistent. But this one is actually not so much diversified. Makkon textures made most of jam look like an solid episode (where they were used).