ShadowSpectra

Description
Don\'t ask me why the map is called Shadow Spectra please, because I have no idea whatsoever. Just accept it, and then we can all be happy. ;) Perhaps it\'s something to do with one of the screens provided in the author\'s original submission email in which he was using a spectra model, but meh. Whatever.

The map is quite definable as a beginners map - there are several things that give it away, although to be fair, it isn\'t the worst first attempt I\'ve seen by a long shot. Mostly, the problems are illumination issues, mainly the fact than none of the lighting have reasonable sources. I suppose the blue dusky aura in the outside sections could be coming from the sky, but it still doesn\'t explain why the majority of the lighting is concentrated around the small pillar in the middle of the little pond there.

The architecture was, well it was okay. It\'s better than a totally newbie map that\'s for sure, especially the uneven surface where the pond slopes downward, and the small \'council\' area inside isn\'t half-bad - but the texturing often lets it down, with misalignment, over-stretching and other things. There\'s also some brush faces that appear to be 2D due to a misuse of caulk or a lack of proper geometry building, as you can see in the final screenshot.

Another problem was that there is rain in some sections of the map. Unfortunately the inside/outside brushes which dictate where rain does and does not fall have not been placed precisely enough, and some rain still falls inside. I\'d also have liked to see a custom water shader and a glowing lava shader. Oh, and some of the pillars have been made non-solid - whether that was purposeful or not, I don\'t know. But there you go. Overall of the expected standard really, for a beginners map, and really could have done with bot support and a custom music track.

New Sounds: No
New Textures: No
Bot Support: No

~Szico VII~