darkhaven3 wrote:....being attacked by 10 cacodemons with barely any room to maneuver is not what I call "fun", and neither is being trapped in a tiny room with 6 Pain Elementals).
Curiously, the limited room to maneuver (coupled with the tight ammo situation) is what made the cacodemon/lava arena challenging and fun for me. Cacodemons are typically relatively easy enemies to deal with, but when they swarm in tight places they can be tough opponents. Even though I normally tire of the gameplay in my own levels after constantly play-testing them, I have to say (without trying to be immodest) that I continue to enjoy the unpredictability of the fights in Six Ways to Die, even after running through them dozens of times.
As for the six Pain Elementals, I assume you're referring to those in the exit area in Palais des Cauchemars. None of them is flagged "deaf", which means that there is virtually no chance of you "being trapped in a tiny room with" them. As soon as you begin the fight in the final hall they'll hear you and leave the exit area to investigate. Even if you don't fire a shot to alert them, you'll still have to reach the throne platform to press the switch to open the exit door, they'll see you and you come out to investigate. The only way they'll still be in the exit area is if you grab the invulnerability, run around to the throne platforms and press the switch, and rush through the exit door before they swarm to block it. By that time you can simply cross the exit line and not have to deal with them at all. In other words, the only way you'll be trapped with them is if you deliberately do so, or for some reason you choose not to exit when you get through the exit door. [In fact, when I was testing that area I deliberately ran to the far corner of the exit room repeatedly and battled it out with the Pain elementals to see if it was possible to win. Most of the time I found that I could defeat them but there'd be barons entering the area that made it extremely difficult to completely clear the area and get some breathing room before venturing back to the main hall.] In other words, in the course of "normal" gameplay, it's highly improbable that you'll end up being trapped in that room with them.
These are all screenshots of areas that really caught my attention as lacking or particularly unattractive.
I agree that some areas, such as
this one are very plain. Overall, however, I am satisfied with the level of detail and texturing in the maps.
esselfortium wrote:The biggest thing that stands out to me in many of the pictures, both on ReX's site and in Darkhaven's link, is that the color coordination is rather lacking IMO.... The ways that green, gray, tan, brown, and most particularly the heavily saturated reds and blues are mixed together rather haphazardly in a single scene like this just makes things seem garish and unfocused to me.
Although you may not agree with my choices, I want to mention that I spend quite a bit of time making texture selections that do, in my opinion, complement each other. In other words, I never randomly or haphazardly choose textures and flats. That you do not like my choices is your prerogative; for my part I am usually very satisfied with the final appearance. Perhaps I lack an artistic bent of mind, and perhaps if someone else were to redo an area I have created I might see an improvement, but when I release a map I genuinely believe that I have fulfilled my own "vision" of it.
PFL wrote:Hey Rex, this wad was HARD man. Had a nightmare Christmas so everybody will pay?
So, you'll probably want to change that name to a hundred ways to die... and the palace is great looking too.
Yes, I agree that these maps are quite difficult for the average player (which is what I am) at UV skill. However, I have generally provided a back door for the fights (including allowing monster infighting) and have repeteadly tested the fights to make sure that an average player has a chance of succeeding. That's not to say that the player is guaranteed to succeed every time (what would be the fun in that, no?), but the player has the opportunity to discover what works best for their style of playing.
At HMP skill I find most fights to be quite easy. But at UV skill there is not much room for error, and it requires some degree of luck.