Elite Council

Description
[b]***WARNING*** This map does contain some flashing / strobing lights, be careful if you are sensitive to such![/b]

Clan maps. Love them or hate them they are an integral part of the JKA and JK2 community. Some of the best mappers out there started off by making a map for the clan they were in (I know some personally) and they carried on from there and made some of the best maps around.

Personally I love clan maps; they always fascinate me. Unlike a normal map, a clan map is designed specifically with the needs of that particular clan in mind, which means they often have very unique or sometimes quirky features that you simply wont find on any other map. Personally I have great respect for clan maps as a form of level design, since they are so different from everything else.

Anyway, enough intellectual talk, let’s get on with the review! :P

This particular clan map has been made by Orshay for the Elite Clan. Other than that I don’t really know much about the clan, because their forums appear to be in Spanish, which I can’t read! But as the author explains in his readme:

[quote] This map is a Clan Council, which consists of a garden, lobby, Council Hall, duel room, rooms for members, swimming pool, changing rooms, bar and night-club, as well as many other elements.[/quote]

First of all, there is a nice colonnaded walkway that leads into the main lobby area. The colonnade area uses textures from the Valley of the Jedi cut-scene level in JK2, which is good to see, since it seems to be pretty rare that these textures are actually used in maps. Paths to other parts of the map lead off from this lobby, which has a rather nice sculpture of the ‘JK’ Jedi Knight Lightsaber symbol in the middle. I personally thought this was a very nice touch, and looked good too!

The main feature appears to be the [b]gigantic[/b] swimming pool, which is obviously designed to be used for huge clan swimming parties, or something like that. Along the same theme, the changing rooms, including working showers are on one side of the pool. On the other side is a row of bedrooms for the clan members. Moving on we come to a large door which leads to the garden area, which seems to be something very frequently featured in clan maps.

Moving on again past the garden, and through another door, we come to the funky night-club area! Here we have a crazy multicoloured flashing disco floor on which to do your dancing. If you need music, well just press the button at one end, and it will start of some dance music! Lastly moving back into the main lobby area, there is an elevator that takes you to the upper level where you can walk on the balcony overlooking the pool. The balcony ends in a cool bar area, where you can grab a drink after doing all that swimming!

Go to the other side of the upper floor and you will find yourself in the two large towers. One contains a duel room, again with a button you can press to start off some suitable duel type music. The other one contains a cool looking council room, with some nice fountains and water underneath a glass floor!

All in all then, this contains most of the things you could need in a clan map. A big added advantage is that apart from the names above the bedroom doors, this map doesn’t appear to contain any overt clan logos or insignia, so it could be used by anyone.

Now, things to work on. Personally I would like to see more architecture like in the colonnaded area infront of the lobby, I think that had a really nice feel about it. Also, a little thing that makes a big difference is the levelshot. Unfortunately this map doesn’t have one, so I would definitely add one for next time, a good levelshot is important for a good first impression. Apart from that I would say to keep working on the detailing of the map, and to add new and interesting areas.

Overall a good job here, especially considering it is the authors first map! So well done there mate! :)

If you are in the Elite Clan, want a new map to explore or think this map might be good for your clan, then give it a download!

[b]New Textures:[/b] Yes
[b]New Sounds:[/b] Yes
[b]New Music:[/b] Yes
[b]Game Types:[/b] FFA, TFFA, Duel

~Nozyspy~