I'm an author on this one!

I'm glad I'm not in the habit of ranking things, because doing so for all the Copper episodes coming out nowadays would be really hard.

This one in particular is great for so many reasons. There are tons of really creative encounter setups and map layouts, polished and atmospheric visuals reminiscent of Underdark Overbright (I feel like the comparisons will be inescapable, but it is a good thing to be compared to), a complete custom soundtrack(!) which sounds unlike any music I've heard in Quake before but nonetheless fits the atmosphere well, really impressive scripting that makes the most of Copper's features, and all done consistently over 5 decently-sized maps.

I quite enjoyed many of the secrets too, but I did find almost all of them without too much searching. Not sure if that's because they're too easy or if I'm somehow psychicly linked with Juzley when it comes to secrets. Only other things I can find to criticise here are minor visual nitpicks.

God, this was a great experience. Julian has a brilliant sense of pacing, flow, and escalating challenge.

The texture work and architecture is beautiful, but always in service to the gameplay. Secrets were a little on the easy side, which I like, because it made me feel smart.

Alot of people have compared this as a companion piece to Underdark, Overbright - its a modern classic in the same way, and because it's mostly the work of one person, there's a consistency throughout that makes the whole experience go down real smooth.

Finally, aside from the start map, Julian has done his own music for these levels. They totally slap - brooding like the original quake soundtrack, but with some more synthesizer noodling to give it its own character.

One of the few 10/10 quake experiences for me - alongside UDOB and AD.

These maps rock!

I noticed they got the Nail Gun fixed (the nails are not ejected from the sides anymore). Does anybody know the .pak files that correspond to this change so I can put them in the original ID1 folder and have the fixed version all around?

That nailgun change is from Copper. Copper should be compatible with all id1 maps.

Yeah, but I wanted to put them in the original ID1 folder so that the fixed version would appear in every other game folder I have, not just the COPPER one.

I'd also like to replace the modified Super Nail Guns from COPPER and AD with the original ID one, which shoots one precise stream of nails.

You'd have to make your own mod if you want to mix and match features from existing mods.

One great thing about Quake that I appreciate is that it's highly modular. Many times it suffices to just swap a few files here and there and get the desired effect. It's just that sometimes it's difficult for a non-developer to figure them out.

That being said, I'm very grateful for all the content this wonderful community releases and shares.

Alright, so here's a fix by seven :

http://shub-hub.com/files/mods_singleplayer/NailgunNailPosition.zip.

On closer examination it seems that PUN (and generally AD and COPPER) have only a partial fix: if you shoot the Nail Gun looking up you can still see the nails coming out from the sides.

The link above offers a complete fix.

Put the progs.dat in a game folder and run it as a mod or overwrite the original progs.dat in the ID1 pak to have the fix all around (in all game folders that use the original ID1 Nail Gun and not a modified version, like AD or COPPER).

Note: If a game folder has a progs.dat of its own the fix might not take effect.

Damn it's cool but hard even on medium difficulty! Amazing work! But it always annoys me when mobs calmly walk under water. In Dark places this can be fixed and mobs die in slime and lava. I don't remember about the water.

10/10

Tackling this map pack after the demanding Torrent of Impurities was kind of relaxing. For once, I even gave Copper's Nightmare mode a try (and it was easy to find, so I thought: "Why not?"). Some parts were tough but most of the time an easier way out of difficult fights was available, most notably that moving platform over the void in the last map.

The atmosphere in those maps was also great. Maybe a bit more fog in places would have added to the general feeling. If I had to nitpick, I'd complain about the lack of a boss fight. But more importantly, this simply means that time went by so quickly playing those maps that the end felt very abrupt. I hope there's more coming our way -- well, I know there is, and I do hope you submit your abandoned work to the scrap thread over at func.

Thanks a lot for this mini-episode!

A series of beautiful, well-made maps. I really enjoyed these! :)

this was really good. i like Juz.

Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic. Everything I'd like to say has already been said. These maps are MEATY.

Also I agree with Gioyo3aa that this pack was the perfect palate cleanser after Torrent of Impurities.

Easy 10/10 the whole way through, and in fact this might be my favorite copper pack yet!

very good work!

I really enjoyed this episode pack. It's easily a 5-star experience for me on skill 2 using QSS 0.93.2. I'm back playing SP Quake after a multi-year hiatus. Out of curiosity, I had to see what had become of my beloved Quake and if people were still writing code and building new levels, and I haven't been disappointed! I've recently finished Arcane Dimensions and all the external maps I could find, and now I'm working my way through the goodness that is Copper and I just can not get over the quality of gameplay and the ingenious level design, as well as the fantastic mods and the newest engines to take advantage of them! Anyway, I had extreme fun with the 5 maps of the aptly named, 'The Punishment Due', especially the tough combat of 'Let Them Eat Quake', the diabolically fun ending of 'Tour De Vores', and the punishing 'Orgre and Out'. I just want to say a big THANKS to everyone who has anything whatever to do with creating this quality content and with making it available!

Collecting my thoughts from func_msgboard:

Composing your own music is an unfair superpower for SP maps. Really enjoying the effect. Some of the synth-y stuff has the Doom feel of the map sort of snickering at you in a "just you wait" fashion.

BTW what tune are you quoting in track96 (pun3)? Probably something obvious but I'm blanking on it.

I've just played up through pun3 so far, skill 2. Some really brutal but fun combat surprises! (That sequence of biosuits and buttons... hah.)

Also in general I can tell this is a Juzley joint. The crisp structures with big pieces that open up to make swiss-cheese paths; high-visibility but still with interesting lighting. IMO your best builds yet.

pun3 sure feels like it puts some miles under your ranger-boots. I've got to take a breather. :-) (In a good way.)

pun4 was a trip. I can see how some folks could think it dragged... I think for me though it landed in a pretty good zone, continually revealing new interesting areas/connections that fit into my mental model of the place. That's always a cool feeling!

One bit of the design that was crucial IMO was the button-count indicators placed over the four paths. Those really went a long way toward reducing the where-to-go-next anxiety, and I think for a big map it's VERY nice to be able to "cross off the list" some subsection of the map.

It wouldn't surprise me if some players didn't notice those indicators though! Which would be unfortunate.

...and that's pun5 done. Yep pretty tough. :-) Fight-bites were of the right size that it was fun to quick-reload a few times to try various stuff until it worked.

The last room was maybe the least interesting? which was too bad but hey... still batting a high percentage here.

Quick bug report (I think): I wasn't able to pick up the green armor that was on one of those up-and-down moving grates. Playing with QSS.

Anyway, a stellar release. Got to bug more folks to try it out!

My favorite map pack so far. Maps just get better and better until the end.

Excellent map design. Sadly the last map is way too unbalanced in hard skill. It doesn't play nice with the other maps at all and it feel out of place.

Start: I love the simplicity and straightforward approach of the difficulty skill selection hall. The soundtrack fits and strikes right from the very beginning, the emerging ambiance owing much to it.

Map 1: very appealing tone of the environmental design. Certain old-school elements of spatial design, weaved craftily into the modern grand picture. The shortcut teleporters for backtracking or in an emergency of having become lost - is a great option.

Map 2: the difficulty level, is simply overwhelming. I did struggle. The map appears driven by some very old-school orientated mindset in the principles of design to it. The choice of assets, seems rather syncretic, albeit it does not ultimately feel out of thematic cohesion.

Map 3: very classy outlook, accompanied by steady and moody soundtrack. Elegant and systematic in spatial design. It successfully captivates the feel for medieval architecture, emphasizing small rooms and tight narrow passages between large, central areas. The difficulty level, is well balanced.

Map 4: my first impression, was that of a dystopian neon-punk, totalistic, technocratic state, combined with a legacy of ancient themes and symbols - to decisively transgress shortly into a medieval and ultimately into a swamp or a dungeon style environment. The grim atmosphere prevails throughout the stage, making certain breaches of brightness on the higher levels of architectural hierarchy, that much more striking. The map layout, is very well interconnected and planned out. The gameplay continuum, is highly non-linear, with good amount of finely crafted details; revealing some possible influence of "The Forgotten Sepulcher". I would actually claim to like "With Fiends Like These", better than I liked "The Forgotten Sepulcher". The latter, was more of a baroque experience - full of glitter, but ultimately not as deep. "With Fiends Like These", in turn, is a rather gothic venture, requiring certain degree of structured approach. The wall puzzle, was amazing - most proper challenge for an "FPS" genre game.

Map 5: "Quake: The Puzzle Arena" - an octagon map, composed of four challenge rooms and four key pillars, unlocking of which, leads to an exit battle. Puzzles, are most creative, malicious, with decent inner synchronicity; employing inspiring horizons as their witness. The lava challenge, though, does kick some balls.

The soundtrack pieces throughout the entire jam, are just spot on - I applaud.

I must have plenty of luck - or follow some apparently effective advice - for the stuff I play here on 'Quaddicted', is just great and "The Punishment Due", is a fine example of experienced mapmaking.

One of the best eps I ever played (there are actually not too much of eps not just maps but anyway). 'With Friends' is one of my fav all time maps now. I loved those yellow buttons in gates, so it's always clear how many left and which gate in particular. Not to mention that the map itself is inormous. THANK YOU it's 10 out of 5

On QuakeCast Juzley said he really loves UDOB and he played through it 10-15 times or so. Obviously the influence of UDOB on this was inescapable, and therefore all the following inevitable comparisons to it.

UDOB? What is UDOB?

Underdark Overbright

Very well made but the last level was anti-climactic.

Great level design, but go f%$ck yourself with those 3 chamblers at the end of the toxic water path in "Let them eat quake". It's impossible to do it. So, at this point, it goes from a solid 5 to 1 star. If you are designing a level with support for nightmare difficulty, at least make the said level doable at that difficulty AND without the need of finding secrets to complete it.

This review gave me a bit of a giggle, so I decided to try it out on nightmare... at 1hp and without any ammo other than what is given right before the fight, enjoy https://youtu.be/GNBpQw7fyFA

fun fact: this fight was about 2x harder than this when I have it to Juzley, but he toned it down as it was level 2 and not level 5.

I too just did this exact level on nightmare with no secrets found haha. Its not that difficult (though obviously I had difficulty finding secrets).

Great pack! Style of the first level (Azure Annoyance?) in particular was real attractive, and I love the return of UDOB cobweb secrets :) 5/5

One note, on remastered edition it crashes between some levels with 'illegible message from server' etc... some suggestion this might require an update to copper (which is baked into the pack?).

I was already a fan of Juzley's mapping thanks to his solo releases and jam contribution, but this one's altogether on a different level - a masterpiece.

Very good! It did feel like pun4 was the big end and pun5 was a bonus map with a slightly different theme. Recommended.

Visually good and has some great fights. However, enemies teleporting in, a focus on ambushes in some levels, combined with high difficulty make is hard to play. I originally played this hard mode, and it was too difficult. Now I just completed it on normal, and it was still too difficult. Enemies teleporting close to where the player is expected to be means you hurt yourself with your explosives so usually a bad idea.

Did you try playing on easy?

No. I played only Normal and Hard.

Warning : you may encounter multiple "how is it possible ??" moments during play ;) keep at it ! Great set of maps, great encounters.

A great episode for Copper. While the maps lack the details and lighting of Underbright Overdark, there are great maps in here and very good pacing and difficulty. The frist three maps are a must for any fan!

Awesome episode!

Episodes are my favourite format.

The levels look good while staying fatihul to the original Quake. Good lighting. Great fights. Very well polished.

The only level I didn't like much is Pun4 which is too long in my opinion and doesn't really fit in with the rest. But still, an impressive work.

I played on nightmare difficulty and had a ton of fun. Challenging but never frustrating.

That's exactly the type of content I like for Quake.

Congratulations to the authors!

5/5

Possibly the most sophisticated set of Quake maps ever put out.

Lucky I haven't played UDOB yet so won't need to compare, but this was a great little episode. It starts out pretty simple but each level gets progressively bigger and more impressive. My favourite was pun4, although it was on the verge of being too confusing, I managed to get all the buttons without much backtracking. If it didn't have the lights indicating which buttons are yet to be found, it would have been too much.

Also starts out easy but throws some really good fights later on. There's an abundance of rockets in this so by the last 2 levels, as soon as I got that RL, my default weapon is the RL.

That's the thing that makes episodes so good, you get equipped with good weapons an ammo after 1-2 levels so it makes the rest much more fun. Instead of packs or single levels where the first part is the shitty single shotgun I'm so over using that, and it's not until maybe the last few minutes of a level (if the average is 10mins) where you get to enjoy a RL or SNG. Whereas in an episode like this, a good bulk of the last 400-500 enemies was rocket fun. And you get continued enjoyment that doesn't end after 10mins and you're wanting more.

This feels traditional as well, due to the ID textures but just really awesome layouts and much bigger.

Great soundtrack. Almost kind of experimental. The maps and gameplay are of the highest quality too. Just lovely.

Thanks for making this!

great pack - the secrets in pun3 ! thank you very much

Azure Annoyance (pun1) is a pleasant stroll through an area with mostly base monsters, quite satisfying nothing outstanding.

Let Them Eat Quake (pun2) is a significant step up in both quality and difficulty, featuring one passage -- the extended multi-spawn combat in slime -- that in the end I just shrugged and god-moded through, having stopped enjoying myself. But that aside, this is rewarding and pretty consistently interesting.

Tour de Vores (pun3) is another leap, with a fascinating layout split into three twisting, multi-level areas that can be taken in any order. Completing these brings you to a final arena battle that is made much more enjoyable than most such battles by a respawning quad. Interesting secrets, too. Lots to love.

With Fiends Like These (pun3) is another excellent level, well up to the standard of its predecessor: a big, sprawling green swampy castle with ten buttons to find and press before the gold key finishes its downwards journey in the central courtyard. Those buttons lie behind a delicious variety of challenges, including a couple of well-judged puzzles and lots of combats. Enjoyably, they can be taken in many different orders.

Once the gold key is attained, you ascend to an arena where a final battle takes place in waves triggered by buttons, so you don't just have to go into full slaughter mode but can play it more carefully if you prefer.

All in all, this is outstanding. My only criticism would be that, in a big level where much of the architecture looks the same, it can be easy to get a bit lost. Slightly dIfferent theming of different parts of the castle would have helped, or subtly coloured lighting.

Erratum: With Fiends Like These is pun4, not pun3 as I said in my previous comment.

Disappointingly, this pack ends with Ogre and Out (pun5), my least favourite of all these levels because it's low on exploration and its difficulty is all of the frantic kind. I god-moded through the islands-hanging-in-space sublevel just to make it go away. In the end, I was relieved to finish. What a shame.

All in all, this is an excellent pack and well worth playing. But if and when I replay, I will consider pun4 the climax and call it a day.

This was awesome. I really liked the challanges in Ogre and Out.

Awesome episode. Had real fun playing this one. Thank you very much!

Finally got round to playing this. I'd read several reviews before that compared it to UDOB so I was expecting something similar in terms of quality, but in honesty those expectations were quickly blown out the water... UDOB was obviously great, but this was PHENOMENAL.

Aside from the obvious A++ quality architecture, detailing and layouts (pun4 especially may have the greatest layout of all time), the main thing that set this apart so much was the feeling that I wasn't actually playing the maps... but they were playing me, such was the quality of combat encounters and entity sequences, it hurt my head thinking about the amount of testing and refining that must have gone into this, across five maps too!

Some parts were brutally hard but it never felt unfair; every setpiece battle felt like a perfectly crafted attempt to challenge the player and invite quick, logical thinking, rather than just mindlessly spawning hordes. Highlights were the biosuit section in pun2, the main hall battle in pun3, the pun4 finale and, well, most of pun5... the lava section nearly made me cry with relief after beating it and the floating plat section may have even given me PTSD (in a good way)

I completed the episode in a state of giddy euphoria not experienced since I first played mexx9 as an impressionable 14 year old in 2000. No hyperbole, this is genuinely one of the greatest pieces of Quake I've ever played, a long, long time after I ever thought I'd say that. Thank you, Juzley, Fairweather and everyone else involved!

I encountered a bug in pun4 (With Fiends like These) where the after hitting all the buttons and unlocking the gold key, the key fell through the elevator into the floor/void. Playing on Ironwail 0.7.0.