The (JAWA) Temple

Description
They say jawas are never around when you need them... Does this mean you\'re constantly tripping over them when you don\'t? :P

I\'ll start with a truncated (and slightly reformatted for space) version of the authors\' description.

[quote]It\'s centered around (or more precisely within) a speeder bike track, although for obvious reasons the spawn points are all away from the track itself. The main area of the map includes a large council building with a three-doored lobby, featuring some greenery and the clan emblem, a couple of elevators to the bar, and of course the waiting room and council chamber. Other areas in the main portion of the map include the \"Shrine of the Founders\", near the bar, which has statues of clan founders Matt and Iniowe, as well as Link, who\'s led the clan since 2005. Continuing along from the Shrine of the Founders is a bridge over the main area of the map to the target range. This features targets that actually do something when shot. Outside there\'s also an elevator down to the main level of the map, with room for several people. Near the elevator on the main level is a large arena with galleries for observers. Other areas outside include a small park near the \"Great Gate of the Jawas,\" a large park partly under the speeder track (check out the skylights on the track itself), which kept growing more elaborate throughout the development of the map, a small arena for training, also with working health dispensers, a swimming pool (try the diving board!), and a couple of false doors to buildings that couldn\'t really have finished interiors due to the complexity of the map. One of them is where regular clan members live, and I haven\'t come up with a story for the smaller building... Opposite the swimming pool is the door to the council members\' private apartments. There are several on each level, and all feature lockable doors that can\'t be triggered from the outside.

The map comes with a number of droid NPC\'s which can be safely spawned on any server with this map installed. I\'ll probably submit a separate pack consisting of the droids alone. People who don\'t have the droids can still see untextured R2 and R5 models, so there shouldn\'t be any crashing. There\'s a complete list of them in the readme.

This map supports FFA, TFFA, Duel, and Power Duel, although due to FPS issues I wouldn\'t really recommend it for TFFA. I did add botroutes to it before finishing, and it has appropriate weapons, ammo, and Force pickups in various locations, as well as spawn points for team play.

I\'ll be glad to answer any questions that you have about the map or anything in it!

Helena Revan[/quote]

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Whoa.

First off, I\'d like to say this map actually rivals BDC Racing Club as my favorite racing map.


The architecture present in this map is well done, though there are a couple of areas that could be improved. Everything is clear-cut and straight, as should be expected with stonework. The texturing is also well done, and really adds to the architecture. Add in the lighting, and you get a superb map that fits the \'newly built yavin\' theme quite well. Of course, the yavin theme doesn\'t end there. Outside, you can hear wildlife, and where there\'s water, there\'s watery sounds. +1 for ambiance.

This map includes numerous features, including duel rooms, a firing range, a council room, and more, but most importantly:

[b]A race track.[/b]

Well, that\'s obvious, considering what I said above regarding BDC... :P

The entire temple complex is situated in the middle of the track, with access provided through the race control room. The track itself is nice, being detailed and twisty, but unfortunately, it\'s very short. With the swoops provided, I could complete a lap in a little under 45 seconds. (About 55 seconds without turbo) That\'s depressingly short.

Sadly, this map has another downside besides the short track...

There are a number of custom vehicles included (which are nice), but these were packaged in the same pk3 as the map, meaning people who aren\'t running a mod such as Japlus will have to be careful about what custom vehicles they have installed.

In all my looking, I found three secrets (Lugormod REALLY helps with that, given its ability to show entity info in-game.), and one bug: The toggleable ramp for the track covers some of the see-through-floor seconds, but it isn\'t textured on the bottom.

In all, a very nice map, and well worth the download. Oh, and find the secrets yourself.

New Sounds: No
New Textures: Yes
New Shaders: Yes
Botrouting: Yes
Gametypes: FFA, TFFA, Duel, Powerduel

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I have some suggestions for the authors. You don\'t have to follow these, but I recommend you do anyway. :P

-Longer Track
I\'d say one lap should take 2 to 4 minutes with turbo. You could also convert the track\'s \"shortcut\" to be a 1 to 2 minute track, thus letting people choose between a short race and a long race.

-Improved Buttons
The func_usable button setup used could be done more efficiently. You can save entities, brushes, and triangles by using only one func_usable, and making a couple anim-map shaders. If you need help with this, don\'t hesitate to ask.

-Vehicles
Seriously, move them to a separate pk3.
Also, if you want vehicles to remain available, I can help you there with a script or two that will let server owners pick between custom and base vehicles.


That\'s all.

Again: Worth the download.

~Crazy