Mappenings.....part 10?!

I've happily slowed down a lot on the mapping front, but I still have had enough inspiration to make one full map: AD_Shamsp5 - Symphony Of Steel. This map is a combination of old inspiration (a 20 year old sketched idea of a curvy/blocky map in stecki's textures), a classic stolen layout (I realised that the "layout" of the 20 year old sketch was a 2D mess of arbitrary box rooms, so "borrowed" a layout from elsewhere ;)), and current determination to make a map that is more refined and polished - which I actually think worked! This is my 10th map overall and I think it's a good celebration.

Func_msgboard thread: http://www.celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=61713

I got some nice feedback from rather respectable Quake veterans too:

SleepwalkR of Trenchbroom fame:

[19:44] SleepwalkR: your latest map looks great btw
[19:45] SleepwalkR: hope I'll find the time to play it soon
[19:51] SleepwalkR: heck I'll play it now
...
[20:29] SleepwalkR: it's fun, and it looks great
[20:29] SleepwalkR: found 7/8 secrets

Kinn of Marcher Lord / Bastion fame:

Seal Of Approval
#2 posted by Kinn on 2019/04/23 23:08:37
Can confirm this is a very cool map, with a really nice visual theme, and nice elegant architectural motifs. Gameplay is balanced - was very tight on ammo on a couple of occasions, but squeaked through with some light cheesing as opportunities arose.

Sock of Arcane Dimensions fame:

@SimsOCallaghan
Have not played #quake AD in a while and found the perfect map appetizer, Symphony Of Steel by Shambler. Gorgeous visual style combined with a nice meaty sized game play slice!
...
Shambler has certainly got better over the last year and this map has a lovely brushwork style which is tastefully done. I played skill 1 and felt it was fair and a good balance. I've got no idea where any of the secrets are yet, I still not worked out his secret patterns!

Which is nice. Obviously I don't do it for the acclaim but equally I like it when people appreciate what I've done and in particular "get" the concept. OTOH one thing people often didn't get in this were the secrets (apart from Sleepy, GGWP), maybe they were a bit tricky this time, but anyway have a walkthrough video showing all the secrets combined with some waffle about the map...

....and yeah, an indepth analysis of the bonus DLC map too.