Where is the damn boulder!?

I find this map utterly confusing with all the curves. call me spatiialy chalenged but the dynamic layout simply blows away my sense of direction, not to mention my sense of what was possible in HL

To be honest I don't know how well this will run with a full load of players.  There are two issues:

• Is it stable?
• Will it lag like hell?

The first one I can do something about, perhaps.  As for lag, this map will probably be terrible on an internet game but I think it may be alright on a LAN game.....or maybe not - we'll just have to see!

One challenge I face before the final release is cutting down on entities as much as I can.  Whilst I don't want to rip any of the cool stuff out, I need to optimise what I have.

I was impressed with the build.  Very nice achitecture, nice texture alignment, cool doors, and nice rock. 

The rspeeds were very good, and were probably pretty easy to keep low since the map has no long distance views.  It's not hard to keep r's low with a map like this.
It is very cramped, and IMO not a playable HLDM map.

It's a superb map as a "Moving Picture" map...other words, a map a Player can walk thru, much like a museum, walking thru, enjoying the artwork, the waterfalls, the intricate doors, etc.

So yes, very impressive.  Playable, no.  I'd even consider leaving the weapons out, and releasing it as a single player...you'd have to think of a new category to release it under tho.

Maybe Museum because it is a work of art.

Don't worry Orph, it's pretty hard to rain on my parade right now  

Besides, I can fend for myself I think.  And I'm not as easily fooled as some people may believe.  Diplomats are often underestimated in this manner.

Oops, did I say that out loud?  Sorry Doc.

Doc, there's all sorts of different styles of play in Half-Life.  Some people like huge open spaces for crossbow whoring; some people like tiny shotgun fests and some people like a bit of both.

As for me?  Well, I always find giant open spaces annoying as I feel it makes certain weapons far too dominant.  But that's just my opinion.

Hell, Gmdm1 was a lot of fun to play and look how cramped that was!  There's actually a fair amount of space in this map but much of it is vertical.  Some rooms are actually taller than they are wide.

I am certainly not going to release this as a "Museum piece".  Yes, it's a speciality map.  Yes, it's complex.  Yes, you have to put a lot of effort into learning it.  Yes, you must play it on a LAN.  But I think it will play well.  I've designed this map right from the beginning with gameplay in mind.

Er, I beg to differ!  It is very hard to keep R's low in a map like this.  I have had to use all sorts of tricks, some of which I doubt many mappers have even heard of, let alone mastered.  Some of them I invented myself.

The special problems posed by vast numbers of entities have also had knock-on effects on the R's.  You would not believe the lengths I have gone to in order to keep the map playable with a high framerate.

Anyway, you're entitled to your opinion.  Even if it is wrong 

One warning: I have no more to say about this matter and neither shall you.  I will not take kindly to this thread degenerating into a flame war.  I've waited a long time for this moment.  Let's not ruin it with squabbling.

As you often say,

Peace.

Yes, I can read the warning text on this forum as well as the next man.  What is more valuable, however, is to be able to read between the lines.

But thank you for your constructive response, and I wish you the same success with your future maps.

Oh yeah, and I've been meaning to tell you - I like your new avatar.  I think it's perfect for you, you should definitely keep it