Hi there and thanks for new levels. I am counting 16 levels.

Can we please; please; please just for once have these map packs arranged in an episodic fashion like in the original Quake? As in, letting me keep all the stuff I get instead of stripping my ass naked and sending me to the freaking start map every time I complete a level? The way these maps work completely kills the purpose of finding secrets and saving armor or health for the next map, and it just keeps happening over and over and over again with every single one of these map packs, it's very disheartening.

But that's what Mapping Jams are. With episode I'd imagine there's also a subject of level order and therefore possible multiple re-balances on all of them, it adds more complexity to organize the pack and to maintain it.

That said, there were a few proper Episode packs released in last couple of years: Epochs of Enmity, Dwell (Episode 1, more incoming), Realm of the Lost, Torrent of Impurities, Underdark Overbright, The Punishment Due. And there's also incoming 4-episode 32-level 1996-style Tremor.

But I've noticed that packs that are mapping jams are also marked with "episode" tag in them, which does seem wrong.

Regarding pointless to find secrets and saving armor, that's not too different from single standalone map releases, no?

Making every map jam an episodic release requires drastically more effort than the hub-isode style most packs are released in.

@NoNameUser Putting all these maps in an Episode has it's pros and cons. While it's disheartening for you to lose all your stuff at the end of each map, it's also disheartening for a mapper who spent a month on carefully balancing the map if a player enters his level already equipped with RL, LG and red armor. It would basically ruin the experience.

As @Mukor already pointed out it requires drastically more effort to release them in a hub-style pack. I would even take it a step further an say it's almost impossible under the given circumstances of a jam.

Meanwhile: ....something similar was successully realized 4 times in the Doom community with "Community Chest" 1-4. Those are 32 standalone Maps by various mappers, compiled into a Megawad.

I played them first in sequence... wrote down which maps I liked and then played these maps again each from scratch. It worked for me.

I personally love the episodic approach. A possible solution to do this in a project like this could be: - Make a start hub where the player has the choice of selecting a specific map OR an episode.

There is of course the problem with the trigger_changelevel which specifies what map should be loaded the the end of the level - depending on if you play episodic vs single map. But there are several ways to address this.

Thoughts?

After playing some of the maps now I'd say. Episode or not... I won't play it again. It was a very disappointing experience. Who rated this a 5??

Jams are just that: jams. They are not episodes. People make maps in jams under the guidelines of a theme and/or constraints. Rating this pack poorly due to some uninformed expectation isn't quite kosher.

Considering the tight guidelines of this pack, I think it turned out quite nice. If you're looking for a modded out episode, then look elsewhere. If you're looking for a bevy of vanilla style maps that follow the tight constraints of the original game, then this will entertain you!

ldfl: Very nice! doom: Too tight, repetitive and thus hard to navigate for me. Liked the style though. gree: Very nice!

grue: Metal <3! Had some scripting issue around the portal and wasted a Quad, it worked out in the end though.

il8r: First room threw me into the Yun battle in Jedi Knight, same feeling in the layout :D Had fun!

jcr: Weird scale, took a while to like it but in the end the concept was nice. Pretty brutal setup for the end fight with all the ricochet.

jcr2: LOVED IT!

mark: See jcr2.

mike: Liked it, fun gameplay! Got stuck a lot on decorations though.

pief: Very cool setting, liked it!

skor: Strong e4 vibes, I loved it!

@Greenwood Were you talking to me? Just in case you did, I think you didn't understand what I was trying to say... or it's a plain missunderstanding ; )

The rating is based on how I experienced the maps. Period. I felt the majority of these maps were boring and ugly.

!!! >>>I feel sorry for the few good ones, but the rating was based on the overall experience of the pack.

According to my memory many of the maps in this pack would have gotten a 2* rating if they were released in '96.

On the other hand there are maps which originally were released around that area that still deserve a solid 5*. Based on that comparison I think this pack was a disappointment. Especially when considering the gap in available hardware and editing tools between then and now! ..133mhz pentiums with 8mb of ram on a 15" monitor and editors like Trenchbroom still decades in the future. It was A LOT harder to create anything decent back then.

I do concur with NoNameUser. While I understand the point of Map Jams, I do prefer an episodic jam, where there is a sense of continuation, otherwise, just release separate levels. Going back to the start map again, remembering which ones you played, which you didn't, is a PITA for me. I'm not saying episide vs jam as a matter of right vs wrong, its just a personal preference. I skip over mapjams usually for this reason.

For this pack, the levels were hit and miss. Some where pretty damn good, others were only OK, perhaps needing a few more textures or detail.

The Episode 4 levels were IMO the strongest, however for many, I didn't feel they were "Vanilla" maps. Not because they weren't within the limits, but after 25 years, levels are just stylistically different now compared to back then.

I didn't enjoy this very much. I feel bad criticizing it when a) it's clear a lot of work went into the project and b) most of the contributors have released great maps in the past, whether as part of other mapjams or as standalone releases.

For me the problem is that, as Borax Man writes above, these maps aren't really vanilla. There's an art critic named Hugh Kenner who wrote that "The style of your own time is always invisible," and most of the maps reflect that: they're modern Quake maps done at modern scale with modern gameplay, old-school textures, and maybe a few anachronistic trifles. Many of the authors, in trying to create a vanilla map, just made the maps they typically make, but cruder.

The entries from Boxfigs, Ilike80srock, and Spud are the ones that best reflect the spirit of vanilla Quake, IMO. They're not especially id-like, but each one could have been an early custom map. That's not to say those are the best maps (although spud's is pretty interesting), or to diss the other authors, just my opinion on their style.

I'm amazed every time I play one of these Jams at how much fun they are. Sure, some are better than others, but they are all great in their own right.

I just have to say to all the mappers, thank you once again for sharing!

Even id1 maps by different authors look and play different, of course maps by other authors decades later will have their own style. As far as the more important gameplay criticisms, the maps mostly play smoothly. Good for people getting into playing custom maps because the quality is pretty high on average and there are no giant marathon dungeons to get lost in. I really liked "Erased Ancestors" (q25ljcr2), cool use of the Egypt textures and some tricky fights.

Great! 5/5