Ok. First off, this map has taught me a big lesson....don't bite off more than you can chew. I think I could have been much happier with this project if I had stepped back and realized just how unneccessary all this space is for HL2DM. I could have scaled down, and had more time to really kick out a solid design with layers of polish. What I got instead, was a struggle just to get this thing into the competiton before deadline. The result, is a less than finished map which could have been much more.
So, now that we know how I feel about it.... let me know how you feel. Kick me in the shins a couple of times, and help me remember that simple designs are sometimes the best ones.
http://www.duncanmoore.org/downloads/dm_parasite_beta1.zip
Yes the layout does feel 'unfocused', especially outside (around the health charger), though I do like the large open layout with two tiers to fight from. Nice small points are the exploding barrels with shards and the cool Combine generator rod thingy in the open-topped cavern, bad points are perhaps the dodgy clipping at the edges of the map and the design in the Combine area (which, though architecturally interesting, had nothing in it!). It's pretty good for what it is though, I hope you work on it some more and can be bold enough to tear up chunks of it and remake.
good luck ! i like how the big spidery machine thing stands through the house
