Alright, but you did say "I never really completed my map", so that made me a little
skeptical.
I just did it yesterday, the one with my friend, since you told me it's fun to complete your map. And I did, we even had a race. But then he had a hard time, so the race was off
You wake up not knowing where you are. You suddenly hear a disembodied voice telling you that you are a subject and must complete tests. Does this sound familiar? If you have played countless custom Minecraft maps before, then Escape the Madman will bring nothing new to the table. Allegedly a puzzle map with adventure elements, Escape the Madman seems to miss the point. When playing the map, I failed to notice much adventure. Or puzzles!
As stated above, the player wakes up in a mysterious complex in which he or she is tolding nothing except that he or she needs to complete "tests." I will say now that this theme is horribly cliché. However, my interest was piqued again as the map creator added notes of someone else speaking, indicating that there was something more to these tests. Playing on the my curiosity, the mapper had me press on, giving me hope that this map could stand out from the many puzzle-escapes from before.
As I finished the introduction area, the map presented me with a hub with gateways to a rather large plethora of challenges. They range from parkour, multiple choice questions, archery, and a dark maze. And a cactus maze. And a glass maze. What struck me as odd was the fact that the challenges are so similar to one another. Despite the high amount of content that this map features, it seems that the mapper was not able to find many creative ideas in his challenges. They were all the same or were variations of past challenges, and all of them were challenges that other puzzle maps have done so many times before to the point of overuse. I don't see the innovation, nor do I see the inspiration. That being said, I admit that these challenges were well made and were fun in their own rights. They just weren't original. As for the puzzle aspect itself, there was only one challenge that scratched my brain: the sand and piston puzzle (which was the only puzzle that was noteworthy, as it looked very original and it could have been expanded upon.) The rest of the challenges were not at all too puzzling, as they consisted more of obstacle courses rather than challenges that make people think. For a puzzle map, it didn't contain very many puzzles.
Throughout this entire map, the main reason of my pressing on was to figure out the mystery of what was going on in the story. The map looked like it was building up to a climax, and just when I could taste it, it shoehorns a random plot about how the player is the only one who could save the world from an evil race of creatures that are apparently the scourge of the planet.
Wait, what? Where did this come from? As far as the players know, they were just doing random tests in countless chambers. Now they suddenly have to go save the world? One of the main problems that I have with this map is that the creator does not seem to know how to create a good narrative. Despite this jarring and sudden revelation, the player is still forced to go through many more test chambers and complete challenges.
I fail to see the connection between the story and the map itself. This is what I believe to be the main flaw of this map. It has everything that it needs to be a good challenge map: well-put-together levels, a decent difficulty progression, and a lot of things to do. It excels in this aspect, but the story was not done very well and only seemed to be there as a flimsy excuse for the player to partake in the challenges. I wish the story was more integral to the gameplay; the mapper even bothered to create interesting names and visual designs for all of the hub areas, implying that the world was rich with detail. If the map featured real environments rather than claustrophobic boxes, I don't think I would have had too much of a problem here, simply because it would have made me feel like I was more part of the world. Instead, I feel tragically disconnected.
Perhaps I have become bitter and jaded. There are so many "escape the test chamber" maps out there that I struggle to find anything new or original. I must give credit where it is due, however; calpol55, the creator of this map, made his first adventure map decently fun. It's a shame that the adventuring part left a lot to be desired. For all intents and purposes, though, this map was fine. It was just very uninspired. Keep at it, calpol55. You can only get better and better from here on.
I don't think that I have mentioned that Escape the Madman is still a work in progress, yet. Well, it is a work in progress, and the map's creator will be adding more onto this map. If you enjoy challenges, keep an eye on it!
Bugs/tips
-The TNT challenge broke somehow; I managed to set off a chain reaction of explosions and I cleared out the entire room! Oh yeah, I died too.
-If it's an adventure map you're making, I HIGHLY advise you not to make your entire map made out of separate challenges. It detracts from player engagement because of how disconnected everything feels. The story would seem nearly pointless when you make maps like this. Try making detailed terrain!
-Get more ideas for your puzzles and challenges. The map felt very repetitive at some areas because some puzzles were literally the same as other ones. Many puzzles were used by countless other maps as well, making yours very generic and run-of-the-mill.
Living in the Shadows is a hard map to define. I can't call it bland, nor exciting; not uninteresting, nor noteworthy, and I can't call it good or bad. So what exactly do I call this map? I'd start by saying that it is unique. It has an original medieval tale, some noteworthy puzzles, and a few moments of escape that are, while brief, worthwhile. It also has some than exciting exploration, some aesthetically unpleasant visual escapades, and forced mechanics. On a scale that weighs the positive mentions and those that are negative, Living in the Shadows tips neither way. It is, to say, decent.
The map is paced as an RPG medieval-style adventure, and as such the story is appropriately noteworthy. It begins on a mediocre level but builds until it reaches a fairly suitable climax. I won't spoil the entirety of the map's narrative, but will give positive mentions on the storytelling technique, the pacing of notes, and the complexity of the characters whose hearts are spilled into the rich text. I wasn't at first intruiged by the map's storyline, and as first impressions are key; I can't say you, the reader, will be, either. But if you press on past the lackluster beginning you'll be pulled into its engrossing plot and respect it for what it offers.
However, while the plot was a solid aspect, I was less certain about most others. One of these was the exploration-based role-playing. I did love the sewer sequence, but I was less than compelled to visit the other designated locations, or even attempt to find them. Whether this is just my personal opinion on exploration or not I'm uncertain, but I'd hope that others will find more in exploring the world of Living in the Shadows than I did.
Meanwhile, I felt the puzzles had little to offer the adventure. Their overall design was well-constructed, but the lackluster polish and often even signs or notes that told you what to do reduced their charm to a inexplicable nonsensical mess. The parkour was a nice touch, even if brief, and fit the scenery well. But a puzzle allowing the player to progress into the castle sewers completely wrecked the atmosphere and disrupted the scene in a very violent way. There were a number of occurances like this, but I won't mention them all, as redundance is a real pain.
On a more positive note, I did like most of the architecture Living in the Shadows had to offer. It wasn't particularly grand or even noteworthy on a fairly small scale, it accomplished what it needed to and did so in a professional fashion, even if the world of Living in the Shadows was rather small. I liked the castle, the intricate furniture, the detail, and the well-done appeal of the adventure, even if a few places stuck out as a sore thumb among the otherwise solid visual atmosphere.
Living in the Shadows is a relatively uneventful map that has little to offer that you won't see elsewhere. It has a good, unique story and some great architectural detail, but its exploration and puzzles are influences that don't affect its score in a positive way. If you are looking for a solid map with beyond average aspects in every regard, there are a plethora of assorted maps to weave through among the fray of the forums. Living in the Shadows, unfortunately, is not one of these, but as I can see a number of ways for it to be improved, there's nowhere to go but up.
Bugs/Tips:
-fit your puzzles into scenes where they won't interrupt the atmosphere too greatly, and blend into the story
-don't tell the player character exactly how to solve a puzzle. Give them hints, but let them achieve the final answer free of spoils.
-enforce the story and give more of a reason to explore when bringing exploration into the mix
The review for Quest for the Egg is far superior, I promise.
Minecraft. I'm willing to bet that every single person reading this has played Minecraft. You have all spawned in your first world, learned to punch trees down, and made your first wooden tools. You built your first house, fully furnished with a crafting table, furnace, and a bed. Feeling brave, you ventured down into your first cave. You saw a creeper for the first time. You found your first vein of iron ore. Feeling more lucky and successful, you dig deeper. You find your first lava pit. You find diamonds. You stuff it in your inventory, run back to your house, and for the first time, you feel wholly satisfied in Minecraft.
How long has it been since you felt that in our dear game? You're not a newbie anymore, and that magic feeling of Minecraft may not be as strong as it used to be. Perhaps you should take a break from the game. Or maybe, just maybe, you need to be reminded about how amazing this game actually is. Maybe you should play Across the Land.
Across the Land, at first glance, appears to be a parkour map. Well, it is, I won't deny that. But to me, it is so much more. It's a journey through Minecraft as you know it, but it manages to capture the raw beauty of the world around you. Taking you to the cliffside of a mountain, through a thick wood, down a dark cave, into an icy tundra, and more, it would seem like pretty standard scenery as far as Minecraft goes. However, the very concept of simply travelling across the world is a surprisingly good one.
The actual parkour aspect of this map is extremely easy. It isn't meant to be difficult, however; the mapper seemed to want to remove any possible sense of frustration (there were some parts where I was slightly confused as to where to go, but I was quickly back on track). There is no real challenge in this map because it appears to be meant to be a simple and raw experience of the Minecraft world. The running course is fast and it flows very well.
Despite the fact that all I am doing is traversing over and under very familiar terrain, it brought the entire world into a very different light. This map is gorgeous. This map is absolutely beautiful! Then it hit me: MINECRAFT is beautiful. I can't believe that I had forgotten. This game is downright beautiful.
There isn't much more to say about this map. It's easy, straight-forward, and really short. Seriously, it took me one Minecraft day to finish it. But I'm not sure if that's even a problem. It didn't need to be long at all. It was as if the map was just there to say, "Hey, remember what this looks like? Remember how you used to be in awe at this game's world? Let me show you for ten minutes."
Some ugly part of my mind is ransacking this map, turning it upside down, just so it can find any serious flaw with this map. It can't find any. That's because Across the Land doesn't try very hard to be anything. Is that a bad thing? I do feel the need to point out that there isn't much to this map at all, and that the creator simply made platforms on top of the Minecraftian landscape and called it a map. It's not a challenge, it's not an adventure in the conventional sense of the word, and it's almost exactly like the default world of Minecraft. However, there is something to be said when you feel like a map is trying it's hardest to make you enjoy every step you take. This confounds me. No megabuilds, no dungeons, no semblance of story. All it gives you is a pathway and sets you off. Most of the world is untouched, yet it is a fantastic experience. It may not be brilliant because of what the creator put into it, but it is definitely brilliant for what it is. I would highly recommend this map simply because of how it presents Minecraft's sheer beauty.
Bugs/Tips
-Sometimes the path was unclear. This big offender here is in the pyramid area.
-I would love for this to be expanded upon, but that's just me.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Step by step, block by block, I trudge on in the hopes to find the next great thing.
Minecraft. I'm willing to bet that every single person reading this has played Minecraft. You have all spawned in your first world, learned to punch trees down, and made your first wooden tools. You built your first house, fully furnished with a crafting table, furnace, and a bed. Feeling brave, you ventured down into your first cave. You saw a creeper for the first time. You found your first vein of iron ore. Feeling more lucky and successful, you dig deeper. You find your first lava pit. You find diamonds. You stuff it in your inventory, run back to your house, and for the first time, you feel wholly satisfied in Minecraft.
How long has it been since you felt that in our dear game? You're not a newbie anymore, and that magic feeling of Minecraft may not be as strong as it used to be. Perhaps you should take a break from the game. Or maybe, just maybe, you need to be reminded about how amazing this game actually is. Maybe you should play Across the Land.
Across the Land, at first glance, appears to be a parkour map. Well, it is, I won't deny that. But to me, it is so much more. It's a journey through Minecraft as you know it, but it manages to capture the raw beauty of the world around you. Taking you to the cliffside of a mountain, through a thick wood, down a dark cave, into an icy tundra, and more, it would seem like pretty standard scenery as far as Minecraft goes. However, the very concept of simply travelling across the world is a surprisingly good one.
The actual parkour aspect of this map is extremely easy. It isn't meant to be difficult, however; the mapper seemed to want to remove any possible sense of frustration (there were some parts where I was slightly confused as to where to go, but I was quickly back on track). There is no real challenge in this map because it appears to be meant to be a simple and raw experience of the Minecraft world. The running course is fast and it flows very well.
Despite the fact that all I am doing is traversing over and under very familiar terrain, it brought the entire world into a very different light. This map is gorgeous. This map is absolutely beautiful! Then it hit me: MINECRAFT is beautiful. I can't believe that I had forgotten. This game is downright beautiful.
There isn't much more to say about this map. It's easy, straight-forward, and really short. Seriously, it took me one Minecraft day to finish it. But I'm not sure if that's even a problem. It didn't need to be long at all. It was as if the map was just there to say, "Hey, remember what this looks like? Remember how you used to be in awe at this game's world? Let me show you for ten minutes."
Some ugly part of my mind is ransacking this map, turning it upside down, just so it can find any serious flaw with this map. It can't find any. That's because Across the Land doesn't try very hard to be anything. Is that a bad thing? I do feel the need to point out that there isn't much to this map at all, and that the creator simply made platforms on top of the Minecraftian landscape and called it a map. It's not a challenge, it's not an adventure in the conventional sense of the word, and it's almost exactly like the default world of Minecraft. However, there is something to be said when you feel like a map is trying it's hardest to make you enjoy every step you take. This confounds me. No megabuilds, no dungeons, no semblance of story. All it gives you is a pathway and sets you off. Most of the world is untouched, yet it is a fantastic experience. It may not be brilliant because of what the creator put into it, but it is definitely brilliant for what it is. I would highly recommend this map simply because of how it presents Minecraft's sheer beauty.
Bugs/Tips
-Sometimes the path was unclear. This big offender here is in the pyramid area.
-I would love for this to be expanded upon, but that's just me.
I got an 8.7!!!!! I'm glad you looked at the map for what it was rather than what it was compared to a normal parkour map. Zres did you realize the individual jumps actually ARE hard? Most of the jumps are 3 block jumps. there are even some 4 block jumps. Did you notice? I think not! that was the intention XD what can make something easy is not the individual jumps but the combination of hard jumps. Also, however much it may seem there was little content or effort put into the map, there was a lot. The effort is invisible though, I guess the best way for me to explain this would be that each block placed took more effort than simply placing a block.
also you may like this picture I took in the map. it really shows exactly what you were saying. It Isn't color corrected.
Ah, a quest to save your town and your planet! Huzzah! Dungeons! Huzzah! An evil spirit to engage in combat! Huzzah! Diverse lands! Huzzah!
This is what raced in my head as I was downloading Quest for Vendria, supposedly an adventure/parkour map that appeared to feature all of those things above. When I played it, however, it failed to deliver anything good, or decent, at that. This map was more of a leisurely stroll in the park, rather than one of dungeons and demons. Needless to say, it was immensely disappointing to me. This review will essentially be my first impressions and reactions to the entire map. Yes, I can do this. The map is that short. So without further ado, my review:
At the start of the map, I am given some porkchops. Why? The map's creator told me to play on peaceful difficulty. I am also given torches. Why? Every area in this map that matters is already well-lit with already-placed torches, anyway! I am also given a set of leather armor. Do I need protection from monsters? No, I'm told to play on peaceful. What about protection from lava pits and TNT? Well, this is applicable, but barely (more on this later). The point is, I am given a set of items that I will pretty much never need.
The map requires me to go to three separate dungeons so I can find the keys to open the final area and defeat the dark spirit that is beginning its reign of destruction. Okay, sounds good enough. The locations seem interesting at first: The first dungeon is in a forest, the second is a giant tree, and the third is a desert ruin. Hey, this might be a pretty cool map after all!... Oh. The first dungeon is made of three tiny rooms. Three. Tiny. Rooms. It consists of a ludicrously easy and boring underwater cave that I have to get through to find the first key. It took less than two minutes to get by this challenge. Is it meant to be like this?
Second dungeon. The giant tree. It's a parkour course. Again, it took me less than two minutes to complete and was ridiculously easy. Moving on.
The third dungeon in the desert ruin involves a confusing and frustrating maze. This was not easy. This was not fun. This was nothing short of frustrating, given my annoyance from the past two dungeons. Despite this, it still took about a mere five minutes to finish.
Well, off to the final area. I have to do another challenge? Sure, why not? This dungeon, to my surprise, actually posed a slight challenge. This makes no difference to me, however, as it presented me with forgettable jumps over lava pools and a fairly weak piston-ledge challenge. Yes, it was more difficult. But it was still really easy. I still managed to breeze through this area.
So, I'm given the final nether area. This is it. The end. The climax. The big finale. The final challenge you do is... A soul sand race. This is the grand final challenge? This is pretty underwhelming. I finish the soul sand race, get the button to blow up the nether, and set off a load of TNT. That's it. Credits roll, I see a "to be continued" sign, game over.
So what can I say about this map? Ultimately, I get the feeling that this map was going for something so big, so epic, and on such a grand-scale. But it falls short on all accounts, and ends up small, weak, and overall a waste of my time. Why couldn't the dungeons be larger? Why couldn't the map be more difficult or challenging to anyone that is more skilled than someone who had just played Minecraft for the first time? Why was any semblance of effort wasted on fancy redstone contraptions instead on good map design? I feel horrible for trashing this map, and by extension, the map's creator, but Quest for Vendria was boring, pointless, and badly designed. I wanted to like it; I love adventure maps. But to me, this wasn't anything more than getting past trivial obstacles to get keys so I can open doors. I'm afraid to say that this map did not impress me.
Bugs/Tips
-I did not find any bugs. A commendable achievement!
-Don't give the player pointless and arbitrary items.
-Take your time when making maps. If it's going to take another day to make a challenge really fun and interesting, do it.
-Pull out all your stops. I'm not trying to insult you, creator, but try harder. Even if you don't realize it, you can always pour out so much more effort into your creations. Don't settle for "good enough."
-Consider basic game design and think about what your players may think when they play your map. Is it actually fun for you to play? Is this interesting, or annoying? Is this area needed? Should it be shortened? Should it be longer? Attempt to consider all possibilities when you make a map.
-Come prepared with a plan. Doodle on a piece of paper, or just exercise your brain and think about what you could do to make your maps interesting before you actually make the map itself. Architects don't build skyscrapers and bridges without blueprints, do they?
After all these reviews, I'm so scared about what my score will be. I can predict a score of 1-2 in my map. I should've made my map cleaner and better. But yeah fingers crossed I get a decent score.
And I'm making a 2nd map, and already it looks better then my 1st map, and has better challenges, and it isn't done yet, now I'm really scared, lol
All of these applications up here should be accepted, though you'll just have to wait for Kmilley to post them on the "Unclaimed" list. Zres and I have been posting quite a few reviews lately, so has Jemlee, though we send them directly to Kmilley so that he released them on a reasonable schedule. Earlier these past two weeks I forgot that *durp* but I've sent a review to Kmilley a few days ago. However, he needs a few more reviews done before it reaches the time when it will be released. I'm also writing one up now for Accept Your Own Adventure, while another for Quest for the Egg has already been submitted.
You can be sure we're all still ready to review. I myself have selected two new maps from the list to review, The River and CUBEception (whose review will be submitted to Kmilley within 24 hours).
Genre: Puzz/Park (Though there is a little bit of adventure there since there is a story and there is an objective, which is to hunt for the fountain of youth, so maybe a little bit of adventure is there)
Requirements (mods, texture packs, ect.): Nope
Estimated completion time: Again, if all things go well, then I say maybe 30-60 minutes. BUT again... all things might NOT go well if you're not careful
Additional info: I believe that this map is better than my 1st map because I listened to the people who tried my first map. I made it cleaner, and I made my map more unpredictable. So a map review of this map would be great!
Username(creator): TheMapReview Map Name: Woolington Forum Link: Here Genre: Puzzle Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): None Estimated Completion Time: 40 Mins to 1 and 3/4 Hours ish Additional Info(optional): Just have fun and be honest!
Username(creator): Glasscreeper Map Name: Glass's Obstacle Course Forum Link: http://www.minecraft.../#entry13069637 Genre: Parkour Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): Nothing. Estimated Completion Time: 1-4 hours, depends on how good at parkour you are. Additional Info(optional): This map is meant to be hard.
Still waiting for Cubeception 1 & 2 reviews, but in the meantime...
Username(creator): Gustavo Team (Geminos, piecia997, Xenrir) Map Name: Old Hatreds Forum Link: HERE Genre: Adventure Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): texture pack included in download Estimated Completion Time: 2 - 3 hours Additional Info(optional): It's a tribute to the Kingdom Of The Sky map
Genre: Puzz/Park (Though there is a little bit of adventure there since there is a story and there is an objective, which is to hunt for the fountain of youth, so maybe a little bit of adventure is there)
Requirements (mods, texture packs, ect.): Nope
Estimated completion time: Again, if all things go well, then I say maybe 30-60 minutes. BUT again... all things might NOT go well if you're not careful
Additional info: I believe that this map is better than my 1st map because I listened to the people who tried my first map. I made it cleaner, and I made my map more unpredictable. So a map review of this map would be great!
Added
Posted new review! Also, Jemlee's review posted a couple days ago.
The Asylum is a below average map. The concept of the story and the introduction of it in the thread really got me interested and excited, but the map itself proved a disappointment. As the creator claims, the map is really short; only 20-30 minutes, which is totally fine. The problem is a lot of the time is used by the player for wondering what he or she is supposed to do next. The map is advertised as a “free roam adventure type of map”. However, this claim is true only to a small extent, firstly because of the limitations of the shortness and compactness of said map and secondly because the player is forced to follow a linear path through the map because of hint signs and locked doors. There were also some severe problems with lag in the map which I will get in to later on.
The free roam –aspect is the strong point of the map. Even though it is lacking and occasionally confusing, it is a nice change from the majority of maps with strictly linear plot. The way the map was meant to travel through made it confusing though, as the player may get easily lost and frustrated over where he or she is supposed to go. The main areas on the map need a button or a lever to enter, but an unscrupulous player can easily bypass some of the restrictions because of flaws in the design of the map.
The design and visuals of the map were generally poor. What I saw mostly gave me an expression of an unfinished and sloppy map with not enough attention given to details and functionality. One huge downside was the fact that the map was built on a superflat world, which has two major problems: firstly, the ridiculous amount of slimes almost drove me crazy with their constant jumping and secondly, when getting towards the end of the map the aesthetics of the map suffer from the fact that the landscape is - you know - flat and the small actions done to make it look better are to no extent enough. Another flaws in the design were the small errors in grammar (u and i are not proper English) and the laziness with redstone, such as uncovered paths which one could use to pass some important areas and redstone torches sitting by powered rails without even attempting to hide them. When it is not functional or that detailed, the architecture of the map is actually mostly quite good and enjoyable, especially in the very end.
The gameplay of the map was average. The puzzles were quite unoriginal excluding a couple of pleasant surprises. Most of the puzzles were relatively easy, getting a little more challenging towards the end. There were however some serious problems regarding gameplay and playability. First of all I think the map should have better lighting because the amount of aggressive mobs can get overwhelming, especially when the slimes are counted in. Then the main problem of the map; I had to download Single Player Commands just to be able to /killall in order to be able to play the game. I usually get around 50-60 fps with fancy graphics and far render distance but in this map it dropped down to 4-8 with fast graphics and short render distance. Originality with puzzles is great but everything isn’t acceptable and the abuse of spawning of passive mobs is one of those things. The mapmaker must also think about whether the customers - who may not be as well equipped as he/she - are able to play the game properly without suffering from huge amounts of lag.
Overall the map was ok, it wasn’t spectacular but it wasn’t a total disaster either. It had its upsides and downsides, and with some polishing it could easily be a solid 6-7 map. But, as it is now and with all the problems and issues it has, I think the score is quite fitting.
Bugs/tips -The energy supply building can easily be entered by simply climbing the vines to a nearest hole of suitable size.
-For aesthetic purposes, try out something else, or at least add some variety to the plain walls of the main area.
-Also notice the limits and downsides regarding aesthetics while using superflat world type as the base of your map.
I just ask as my map "Lord of Bloodycross" was accepted for review almost six months ago, and it has since been listed as "finished" under Fangride's to-do list for three or four months now :P.
Does that "finished" indicate that the review has been completed, or simply that the map playthrough has been done?
I just ask as my map "Lord of Bloodycross" was accepted for review almost six months ago, and it has since been listed as "finished" under Fangride's to-do list for three or four months now .
Does that "finished" indicate that the review has been completed, or simply that the map playthrough has been done?
I'm unsure. He's been inactive lately, and so recently Gloria was moved from his to-do list to mine, and I gave Kmilley a review. I offered to take your map as well, but time will tell whether or not Fangride will review it. Hopefully that time period will be short. If you want, I can give my own personal opinions in a short set of paragraphs on your thread while you wait, or hopefully even give it a full review if it comes to that here.
Either way, it was a fantastic map, and I think Fangride agrees. You'll probably be getting similar feedback in either case, but hopefully sooner than later.
My "Hunt for the fountain of Youth" had a bug that I fixed. So if you reviewers didn't play it yet. Please go to my topic again and download the UPDATED version. Thanks!
I just did it yesterday, the one with my friend, since you told me it's fun to complete your map. And I did, we even had a race. But then he had a hard time, so the race was off
As stated above, the player wakes up in a mysterious complex in which he or she is tolding nothing except that he or she needs to complete "tests." I will say now that this theme is horribly cliché. However, my interest was piqued again as the map creator added notes of someone else speaking, indicating that there was something more to these tests. Playing on the my curiosity, the mapper had me press on, giving me hope that this map could stand out from the many puzzle-escapes from before.
As I finished the introduction area, the map presented me with a hub with gateways to a rather large plethora of challenges. They range from parkour, multiple choice questions, archery, and a dark maze. And a cactus maze. And a glass maze. What struck me as odd was the fact that the challenges are so similar to one another. Despite the high amount of content that this map features, it seems that the mapper was not able to find many creative ideas in his challenges. They were all the same or were variations of past challenges, and all of them were challenges that other puzzle maps have done so many times before to the point of overuse. I don't see the innovation, nor do I see the inspiration. That being said, I admit that these challenges were well made and were fun in their own rights. They just weren't original. As for the puzzle aspect itself, there was only one challenge that scratched my brain: the sand and piston puzzle (which was the only puzzle that was noteworthy, as it looked very original and it could have been expanded upon.) The rest of the challenges were not at all too puzzling, as they consisted more of obstacle courses rather than challenges that make people think. For a puzzle map, it didn't contain very many puzzles.
Throughout this entire map, the main reason of my pressing on was to figure out the mystery of what was going on in the story. The map looked like it was building up to a climax, and just when I could taste it, it shoehorns a random plot about how the player is the only one who could save the world from an evil race of creatures that are apparently the scourge of the planet.
Wait, what? Where did this come from? As far as the players know, they were just doing random tests in countless chambers. Now they suddenly have to go save the world? One of the main problems that I have with this map is that the creator does not seem to know how to create a good narrative. Despite this jarring and sudden revelation, the player is still forced to go through many more test chambers and complete challenges.
I fail to see the connection between the story and the map itself. This is what I believe to be the main flaw of this map. It has everything that it needs to be a good challenge map: well-put-together levels, a decent difficulty progression, and a lot of things to do. It excels in this aspect, but the story was not done very well and only seemed to be there as a flimsy excuse for the player to partake in the challenges. I wish the story was more integral to the gameplay; the mapper even bothered to create interesting names and visual designs for all of the hub areas, implying that the world was rich with detail. If the map featured real environments rather than claustrophobic boxes, I don't think I would have had too much of a problem here, simply because it would have made me feel like I was more part of the world. Instead, I feel tragically disconnected.
Perhaps I have become bitter and jaded. There are so many "escape the test chamber" maps out there that I struggle to find anything new or original. I must give credit where it is due, however; calpol55, the creator of this map, made his first adventure map decently fun. It's a shame that the adventuring part left a lot to be desired. For all intents and purposes, though, this map was fine. It was just very uninspired. Keep at it, calpol55. You can only get better and better from here on.
I don't think that I have mentioned that Escape the Madman is still a work in progress, yet. Well, it is a work in progress, and the map's creator will be adding more onto this map. If you enjoy challenges, keep an eye on it!
Bugs/tips
-The TNT challenge broke somehow; I managed to set off a chain reaction of explosions and I cleared out the entire room! Oh yeah, I died too.
-If it's an adventure map you're making, I HIGHLY advise you not to make your entire map made out of separate challenges. It detracts from player engagement because of how disconnected everything feels. The story would seem nearly pointless when you make maps like this. Try making detailed terrain!
-Get more ideas for your puzzles and challenges. The map felt very repetitive at some areas because some puzzles were literally the same as other ones. Many puzzles were used by countless other maps as well, making yours very generic and run-of-the-mill.
My review for Living in the Shadows:
Living in the Shadows is a hard map to define. I can't call it bland, nor exciting; not uninteresting, nor noteworthy, and I can't call it good or bad. So what exactly do I call this map? I'd start by saying that it is unique. It has an original medieval tale, some noteworthy puzzles, and a few moments of escape that are, while brief, worthwhile. It also has some than exciting exploration, some aesthetically unpleasant visual escapades, and forced mechanics. On a scale that weighs the positive mentions and those that are negative, Living in the Shadows tips neither way. It is, to say, decent.
The map is paced as an RPG medieval-style adventure, and as such the story is appropriately noteworthy. It begins on a mediocre level but builds until it reaches a fairly suitable climax. I won't spoil the entirety of the map's narrative, but will give positive mentions on the storytelling technique, the pacing of notes, and the complexity of the characters whose hearts are spilled into the rich text. I wasn't at first intruiged by the map's storyline, and as first impressions are key; I can't say you, the reader, will be, either. But if you press on past the lackluster beginning you'll be pulled into its engrossing plot and respect it for what it offers.
However, while the plot was a solid aspect, I was less certain about most others. One of these was the exploration-based role-playing. I did love the sewer sequence, but I was less than compelled to visit the other designated locations, or even attempt to find them. Whether this is just my personal opinion on exploration or not I'm uncertain, but I'd hope that others will find more in exploring the world of Living in the Shadows than I did.
Meanwhile, I felt the puzzles had little to offer the adventure. Their overall design was well-constructed, but the lackluster polish and often even signs or notes that told you what to do reduced their charm to a inexplicable nonsensical mess. The parkour was a nice touch, even if brief, and fit the scenery well. But a puzzle allowing the player to progress into the castle sewers completely wrecked the atmosphere and disrupted the scene in a very violent way. There were a number of occurances like this, but I won't mention them all, as redundance is a real pain.
On a more positive note, I did like most of the architecture Living in the Shadows had to offer. It wasn't particularly grand or even noteworthy on a fairly small scale, it accomplished what it needed to and did so in a professional fashion, even if the world of Living in the Shadows was rather small. I liked the castle, the intricate furniture, the detail, and the well-done appeal of the adventure, even if a few places stuck out as a sore thumb among the otherwise solid visual atmosphere.
Living in the Shadows is a relatively uneventful map that has little to offer that you won't see elsewhere. It has a good, unique story and some great architectural detail, but its exploration and puzzles are influences that don't affect its score in a positive way. If you are looking for a solid map with beyond average aspects in every regard, there are a plethora of assorted maps to weave through among the fray of the forums. Living in the Shadows, unfortunately, is not one of these, but as I can see a number of ways for it to be improved, there's nowhere to go but up.
Bugs/Tips:
-fit your puzzles into scenes where they won't interrupt the atmosphere too greatly, and blend into the story
-don't tell the player character exactly how to solve a puzzle. Give them hints, but let them achieve the final answer free of spoils.
-enforce the story and give more of a reason to explore when bringing exploration into the mix
The review for Quest for the Egg is far superior, I promise.
Minecraft. I'm willing to bet that every single person reading this has played Minecraft. You have all spawned in your first world, learned to punch trees down, and made your first wooden tools. You built your first house, fully furnished with a crafting table, furnace, and a bed. Feeling brave, you ventured down into your first cave. You saw a creeper for the first time. You found your first vein of iron ore. Feeling more lucky and successful, you dig deeper. You find your first lava pit. You find diamonds. You stuff it in your inventory, run back to your house, and for the first time, you feel wholly satisfied in Minecraft.
How long has it been since you felt that in our dear game? You're not a newbie anymore, and that magic feeling of Minecraft may not be as strong as it used to be. Perhaps you should take a break from the game. Or maybe, just maybe, you need to be reminded about how amazing this game actually is. Maybe you should play Across the Land.
Across the Land, at first glance, appears to be a parkour map. Well, it is, I won't deny that. But to me, it is so much more. It's a journey through Minecraft as you know it, but it manages to capture the raw beauty of the world around you. Taking you to the cliffside of a mountain, through a thick wood, down a dark cave, into an icy tundra, and more, it would seem like pretty standard scenery as far as Minecraft goes. However, the very concept of simply travelling across the world is a surprisingly good one.
The actual parkour aspect of this map is extremely easy. It isn't meant to be difficult, however; the mapper seemed to want to remove any possible sense of frustration (there were some parts where I was slightly confused as to where to go, but I was quickly back on track). There is no real challenge in this map because it appears to be meant to be a simple and raw experience of the Minecraft world. The running course is fast and it flows very well.
Despite the fact that all I am doing is traversing over and under very familiar terrain, it brought the entire world into a very different light. This map is gorgeous. This map is absolutely beautiful! Then it hit me: MINECRAFT is beautiful. I can't believe that I had forgotten. This game is downright beautiful.
There isn't much more to say about this map. It's easy, straight-forward, and really short. Seriously, it took me one Minecraft day to finish it. But I'm not sure if that's even a problem. It didn't need to be long at all. It was as if the map was just there to say, "Hey, remember what this looks like? Remember how you used to be in awe at this game's world? Let me show you for ten minutes."
Some ugly part of my mind is ransacking this map, turning it upside down, just so it can find any serious flaw with this map. It can't find any. That's because Across the Land doesn't try very hard to be anything. Is that a bad thing? I do feel the need to point out that there isn't much to this map at all, and that the creator simply made platforms on top of the Minecraftian landscape and called it a map. It's not a challenge, it's not an adventure in the conventional sense of the word, and it's almost exactly like the default world of Minecraft. However, there is something to be said when you feel like a map is trying it's hardest to make you enjoy every step you take. This confounds me. No megabuilds, no dungeons, no semblance of story. All it gives you is a pathway and sets you off. Most of the world is untouched, yet it is a fantastic experience. It may not be brilliant because of what the creator put into it, but it is definitely brilliant for what it is. I would highly recommend this map simply because of how it presents Minecraft's sheer beauty.
Bugs/Tips
-Sometimes the path was unclear. This big offender here is in the pyramid area.
-I would love for this to be expanded upon, but that's just me.
also you may like this picture I took in the map. it really shows exactly what you were saying. It Isn't color corrected.
And really? The individual jumps are hard? I was too focused on running and looking at the landscape to notice. Plus, I'm fairly decent at parkour.
EDIT: oh and congrats on getting into the review team!
Ah, a quest to save your town and your planet! Huzzah! Dungeons! Huzzah! An evil spirit to engage in combat! Huzzah! Diverse lands! Huzzah!
This is what raced in my head as I was downloading Quest for Vendria, supposedly an adventure/parkour map that appeared to feature all of those things above. When I played it, however, it failed to deliver anything good, or decent, at that. This map was more of a leisurely stroll in the park, rather than one of dungeons and demons. Needless to say, it was immensely disappointing to me. This review will essentially be my first impressions and reactions to the entire map. Yes, I can do this. The map is that short. So without further ado, my review:
At the start of the map, I am given some porkchops. Why? The map's creator told me to play on peaceful difficulty. I am also given torches. Why? Every area in this map that matters is already well-lit with already-placed torches, anyway! I am also given a set of leather armor. Do I need protection from monsters? No, I'm told to play on peaceful. What about protection from lava pits and TNT? Well, this is applicable, but barely (more on this later). The point is, I am given a set of items that I will pretty much never need.
The map requires me to go to three separate dungeons so I can find the keys to open the final area and defeat the dark spirit that is beginning its reign of destruction. Okay, sounds good enough. The locations seem interesting at first: The first dungeon is in a forest, the second is a giant tree, and the third is a desert ruin. Hey, this might be a pretty cool map after all!... Oh. The first dungeon is made of three tiny rooms. Three. Tiny. Rooms. It consists of a ludicrously easy and boring underwater cave that I have to get through to find the first key. It took less than two minutes to get by this challenge. Is it meant to be like this?
Second dungeon. The giant tree. It's a parkour course. Again, it took me less than two minutes to complete and was ridiculously easy. Moving on.
The third dungeon in the desert ruin involves a confusing and frustrating maze. This was not easy. This was not fun. This was nothing short of frustrating, given my annoyance from the past two dungeons. Despite this, it still took about a mere five minutes to finish.
Well, off to the final area. I have to do another challenge? Sure, why not? This dungeon, to my surprise, actually posed a slight challenge. This makes no difference to me, however, as it presented me with forgettable jumps over lava pools and a fairly weak piston-ledge challenge. Yes, it was more difficult. But it was still really easy. I still managed to breeze through this area.
So, I'm given the final nether area. This is it. The end. The climax. The big finale. The final challenge you do is... A soul sand race. This is the grand final challenge? This is pretty underwhelming. I finish the soul sand race, get the button to blow up the nether, and set off a load of TNT. That's it. Credits roll, I see a "to be continued" sign, game over.
So what can I say about this map? Ultimately, I get the feeling that this map was going for something so big, so epic, and on such a grand-scale. But it falls short on all accounts, and ends up small, weak, and overall a waste of my time. Why couldn't the dungeons be larger? Why couldn't the map be more difficult or challenging to anyone that is more skilled than someone who had just played Minecraft for the first time? Why was any semblance of effort wasted on fancy redstone contraptions instead on good map design? I feel horrible for trashing this map, and by extension, the map's creator, but Quest for Vendria was boring, pointless, and badly designed. I wanted to like it; I love adventure maps. But to me, this wasn't anything more than getting past trivial obstacles to get keys so I can open doors. I'm afraid to say that this map did not impress me.
Bugs/Tips
-I did not find any bugs. A commendable achievement!
-Don't give the player pointless and arbitrary items.
-Take your time when making maps. If it's going to take another day to make a challenge really fun and interesting, do it.
-Pull out all your stops. I'm not trying to insult you, creator, but try harder. Even if you don't realize it, you can always pour out so much more effort into your creations. Don't settle for "good enough."
-Consider basic game design and think about what your players may think when they play your map. Is it actually fun for you to play? Is this interesting, or annoying? Is this area needed? Should it be shortened? Should it be longer? Attempt to consider all possibilities when you make a map.
-Come prepared with a plan. Doodle on a piece of paper, or just exercise your brain and think about what you could do to make your maps interesting before you actually make the map itself. Architects don't build skyscrapers and bridges without blueprints, do they?
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Curse PremiumMap Name: Graveyard Defense
Link: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1374272-challsurv-graveyard-defense-v10/
Genre: Challenge/Mini-Game
None
Time: 15-25 Mins.
Extra Info: Read Forum post for details
Map Name: The Dream.
Forum Link: http://www.minecraft...p-for-minecraft
Genre: Puzzle/Adventure
Requirements(mods,texture packs,ect.): None.
Estimated Completion Time: 20-30 Minutes
And I'm making a 2nd map, and already it looks better then my 1st map, and has better challenges, and it isn't done yet, now I'm really scared, lol
Former Lead Modeler of Pixelmon
You can be sure we're all still ready to review. I myself have selected two new maps from the list to review, The River and CUBEception (whose review will be submitted to Kmilley within 24 hours).
Username (creator): xtreme654 (me)
Map Name: Hunt for the Fountain of youth
Forum Link: http://www.minecraft...ntain-of-youth/
Genre: Puzz/Park (Though there is a little bit of adventure there since there is a story and there is an objective, which is to hunt for the fountain of youth, so maybe a little bit of adventure is there)
Requirements (mods, texture packs, ect.): Nope
Estimated completion time: Again, if all things go well, then I say maybe 30-60 minutes. BUT again... all things might NOT go well if you're not careful
Additional info: I believe that this map is better than my 1st map because I listened to the people who tried my first map. I made it cleaner, and I made my map more unpredictable. So a map review of this map would be great!
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The free roam –aspect is the strong point of the map. Even though it is lacking and occasionally confusing, it is a nice change from the majority of maps with strictly linear plot. The way the map was meant to travel through made it confusing though, as the player may get easily lost and frustrated over where he or she is supposed to go. The main areas on the map need a button or a lever to enter, but an unscrupulous player can easily bypass some of the restrictions because of flaws in the design of the map.
The design and visuals of the map were generally poor. What I saw mostly gave me an expression of an unfinished and sloppy map with not enough attention given to details and functionality. One huge downside was the fact that the map was built on a superflat world, which has two major problems: firstly, the ridiculous amount of slimes almost drove me crazy with their constant jumping and secondly, when getting towards the end of the map the aesthetics of the map suffer from the fact that the landscape is - you know - flat and the small actions done to make it look better are to no extent enough. Another flaws in the design were the small errors in grammar (u and i are not proper English) and the laziness with redstone, such as uncovered paths which one could use to pass some important areas and redstone torches sitting by powered rails without even attempting to hide them. When it is not functional or that detailed, the architecture of the map is actually mostly quite good and enjoyable, especially in the very end.
The gameplay of the map was average. The puzzles were quite unoriginal excluding a couple of pleasant surprises. Most of the puzzles were relatively easy, getting a little more challenging towards the end. There were however some serious problems regarding gameplay and playability. First of all I think the map should have better lighting because the amount of aggressive mobs can get overwhelming, especially when the slimes are counted in. Then the main problem of the map; I had to download Single Player Commands just to be able to /killall in order to be able to play the game. I usually get around 50-60 fps with fancy graphics and far render distance but in this map it dropped down to 4-8 with fast graphics and short render distance. Originality with puzzles is great but everything isn’t acceptable and the abuse of spawning of passive mobs is one of those things. The mapmaker must also think about whether the customers - who may not be as well equipped as he/she - are able to play the game properly without suffering from huge amounts of lag.
Overall the map was ok, it wasn’t spectacular but it wasn’t a total disaster either. It had its upsides and downsides, and with some polishing it could easily be a solid 6-7 map. But, as it is now and with all the problems and issues it has, I think the score is quite fitting.
Bugs/tips
-The energy supply building can easily be entered by simply climbing the vines to a nearest hole of suitable size.
-For aesthetic purposes, try out something else, or at least add some variety to the plain walls of the main area.
-Also notice the limits and downsides regarding aesthetics while using superflat world type as the base of your map.
-Add more hills and trees outside the main area.
-Cover your redstone!
I just ask as my map "Lord of Bloodycross" was accepted for review almost six months ago, and it has since been listed as "finished" under Fangride's to-do list for three or four months now :P.
Does that "finished" indicate that the review has been completed, or simply that the map playthrough has been done?
I'm unsure. He's been inactive lately, and so recently Gloria was moved from his to-do list to mine, and I gave Kmilley a review. I offered to take your map as well, but time will tell whether or not Fangride will review it. Hopefully that time period will be short. If you want, I can give my own personal opinions in a short set of paragraphs on your thread while you wait, or hopefully even give it a full review if it comes to that here.
Either way, it was a fantastic map, and I think Fangride agrees. You'll probably be getting similar feedback in either case, but hopefully sooner than later.
-StreamofAdventure, Review Central
or you can just click this direct link.
http://www.mediafire.com/?ft8fnaqsn2jru5u