I was a little worried about releasing my own mapset so close to this DBP's release just because I thought they were going to seem too alike but this project reminds me more of Dreamcatcher Apparatus, only with yellow instead of indigo. Pretty good overall, for each map I liked most of it overall, even if I disliked parts of it.
MAP01Solid opener. Got a little lost looking for the exit.
MAP02Good job, very enjoyable. The opening outdoor area had me thinking this was a 40oz map. Teleporting the monsters around was effective and I liked that mean archvile placement in the final fight.
MAP03Great map, you've already got a pretty distinctive "voice" as a mapper. Areas were reused well. I found it pretty easy to miss the SSG and chaingun on my way to the first key though.
MAP04Good job as always. Another mapper whose style is recognizable right away.
MAP05 There's plenty to like about this map- the layout, visuals, the combat generally. There's also things that were irksome enough to almost outweigh the good parts.
I didn't like the RL placement. I don't like being put in a situation that immediately demands the RL but being forced to wander around looking for it while evading enemies. I would have preferred getting it beforehand or you could have done more to draw attention to it, like, ya know, brightening up the RL sector so it's visible from a distance.
The incidental combat is a bit dense for my liking. Not every hallway needs twenty enemies, sometimes three is fine.
Cleanup in areas is a chore, most notably with the imps atop the canyon in the RL arena.
There's monster blocking lines with inscrutable intent and a large portion of poison that seems to be missing a damaging effect.
You can cheese the fight in the basement by not standing on the lift when it lowers then just pummel everything with infinitely tall rocket blasts from above. I did really like this arena though, it's kinda scary!
The yellow key door is difficult to find. The cacodemons don't lead the player there, they're actually a diversion away from it.
I had a hard time believing that nobody brought up these concerns during playtesting so I checked and it looks like at least 40oz mentioned a few of these things in his feedback. Without trying to sound bitchy, I'd suggest listening to or compromising with your playtesters more.
MAP06Fantastic map, I really like the fortress, this felt like a matador map. Good combat, good layout, good ammo balance.
I didn't like dying to the baron/barrel fight though. I ran in, got blocked off, then the barons blew up the barrels right away, knocking me down instantly to 5% health and then even though I managed to kill most of the barons, I died running across one of the tiny lava pits. Sure, I could have blown up the barrels beforehand (and did on my next life) but I decided to trust the mapmaker that surely the barrels could be for something useful besides blowing myself up.
MAP07Pretty good map, super pretty, I like the layout and the combat. Wonderful architecture. One thing I didn't really like was how much the main area gets reused. The combat works each time, for it's a well-designed arena, but I think it hurts the pacing because I feel like I'm not getting anywhere. Even after pressing the yellow key switch and spawning in enemies for like the third time, I remember thinking, "Do we have to?" and then the fact that there's a cyber wave and a (slow-leak) cacodemon wave after that were too much IMO.
I found the one secret but I have no clue how to reach the optional island arena.
MAP08Good map, interesting ideas. Starting area does feel like it's
entirely cleanup which is never the best way to start out IMO. At first it seemed like there wasn't enough ammo but after I died and knew what to expect, I made it last longer. It's not clear that walking back into the cyberdemon room opens the exit door, you could have spawned a revenant or something up there to guide me. Also, hiding the blue key behind part of a random slimewall that's indiscernible from the rest was kind of retarded, it's really just a dev secret at that point.
MAP09
I couldn't progress after flipping the second switch because for some reason there was a giant HOM wall blocking the path
