Halls of Torture

Description
*slams pentagonal door shut, turning his hollow gaze upon the map set out before him* Ahh, the first new file of the year =_,=

So, an SP map is it? When I first saw this glistening in the box, I gnashed my teeth in joy. A hall dedicated to the best hobby around: mindless torture. Well, I decided for the heck of it to take a peek.

The premises? She is simple: Apparently Jaden was too incompetent to escape the Sith's grasp and now you have to get out. The level itself is very short. After busting out of your cage, you're immediately greeted by REBORN. Old reborn, at that. So, a few hack n' slash battles later, you basically have to weasel through a few passages, take in the scenery, and then hand the younger Tavion's ass back to her. Find the nice little escape route and bam, you're done.

So, how was it, Averus? Eh, could use some work. The author's intent was to create a horror-oriented atmosphere. Whilst the choice of music was good, the rest of it was sort of, well, plain. The choice of textures for the area was great, but every so often you'd run into this big splat of what I presume to be blood. It really didn't work too well because the blood was bright and glowing, as if irradiated. Also, this same texture was repeated wherever he put it, thereby sort of ruining the realistic immersion. I think the best use of that texture, glow included, would be down in the pit's bottom, where the bones of the fallen have congregated to wallow in their own self-pity until I animate them into something useful.

Brush design and architecture were splendid. There were a few rooms in particular that really emulated a Sith dungeon. In fact, a good number of them did. Some of the contemporary technological gizmos (speaking of which, how do those strange torture devices in that one hall work? XD) and the glowing sort of put off the theme a bit, but otherwise you couldn't go wrong.

Challenge? Well, considering you had to manually change the map, that all depended on your last save. If you can handle the stock NPCs, it won't be too irritating. The journey's pretty short anyway.

Overall, I would definitely suggest making a new map with a similar theme. See if you can upgrade the horror element. Hanging bodies/skeletons, more variations on the blood, maybe a head on a pole or two; see what you can scrounge up. Also, like any good mapper, I would suggest buffing up on Radiant and its functions. Your ending was pretty abrupt, and it would probably make things feel a little more fluent if you at least put a centered message or at least fade out to credits to make it at least feel like you've accomplished something. Despite that, it's definitely a nice shot, especially for a darker atmosphere.

I'm done =_= make your decision, oggle the screenshots, do as you must. Aim your bandwidth cannon 25 degrees to Port, and FIRE AWAY!

New Textures: Aye
New Music: Aye
Secrets to plunder: Nay


- Averus Retruthan