RevelationZ Clan Map

Description
This map just makes me think, "Why?", and I'm serious when I say that more effort is probably going into this review than the entire map.

I'm just going to break this one down into three categories: list of negatives, list of positives, and advice. That's all there is to comment on, I'm afraid.

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[b]List of Negatives:[/b]
- No lighting. The map has been released after only a -meta compile.
- Horrendously oversized.
- Bad texturing choices, which don't look pretty and may inflict retinal damage.
- Rancors. They do nothing except make it more likely that the server will crash with a "run out of ghoul2 transform space" error.
- No bot routing.
- Broken .arena script.
- It's just a bunch of hollowed blocks.
- No optimization techniques used.
- Unnecessarily increased load times and filesize due to the lack of optimization.
- Only one spawn point for players, and not a single item/powerup in sight.
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[b]List of Positives:[/b]
- You can't complain about not having enough space to move, that's for certain.
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[b]Advice:[/b]
1. Use the info_player_deathmatch entity as a scaling guide. The entity is the exact same size as the player in terms of worldunits, meaning that it will tell you exactly how big the map needs to be.

2. Never release a map that hasn't been through all the compile phases, one phase at a time.

3. Pick your textures better, and do more with them other than just slapping one texture across every surface.

4. Use lighting. It's not hard to do at all, and it adds so much depth to the map.

5. Don't use NPC spawner entities in a multiplayer map. Ever. NPCs do NOTHING for the map, aside from make it more likely that the server will crash with a "ran out of ghoul2 transform space" error. Let people choose whether or not they want to spawn NPCs.

6. When making an .arena script, the field 'map' is supposed to have the name of your .bsp file. 'Long Name' is where you put the name you want to see on the menu.

7. Architecture. Hollowed blocks really aren't enough to make a map. Read some tutorials, such as Rich Diesal's, and learn how to create things. We have a lot of tutorials in [url="http://forums.filefront.com/showthread.php?t=234876"][u]The Master Sticky[/u][/url].

8. Don't use the hollow tool. It's very inefficient at creating rooms, and causes brush clashes. You're far better off making the rooms manually, it's not too hard to make six walls.

9. Always optimize your maps. Areaportal your doors, caulk any brush faces which won't be seen by the player, etc etc. Those little things increase your map's performance a lot, and decrease the filesize too.

10. Only include necessary files in your pk3. You know what I found in your pk3? basejka textures. This is definitely unnecessary, since everyone already has those textures. Also included is every single shader file from the base game. Totally unnecessary. Let's not forget the fact that every single model from the Yavin folder is in there, too - again, not necessary.

11. Levelshots need to be 1024x1024, and you only need the JPG file, not the TGA.

12. Always, [i]always[/i] have multiple player spawns, depending on how many players you recommend having play this map. One spawn point just ain't enough in MP.

13. Always, [b]always[/b] test your map before releasing it. Have other people test it, too. And whatever happens, make sure that people give you [u]honest[/u] feedback, rather than just saying good things to make you feel better.
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Overall, this is a typical first map, and in my opinion, it shouldn't have been released. There's just nothing I can see in it to make it worth using for anyone, not even the clan it's made for.

My key advice to the author is to read tutorials and test products before they are released, as well as all the stuff listed above.

Sorry, but as a gamer, I really have nothing non-critical to say in defense of this map. As a critic, I have nothing to say in praise of this map. =/

Just don't let the criticism put you off, GhoYo!so. We all get bashed for stuff in the beginning.

Read through tutorials to learn about what you're supposed to be doing with Radiant, get some practice, and most of all, don't give up! You'll get better as time goes by.

~ Kouen

[b]Bot Support:[/b] No
[b]Custom Textures:[/b] Yes (1)
[b]Custom Models:[/b] No
[b]Custom Music:[/b] No