How well does the level communicate a mine environment even if the player has never been to a mine in real life
This criteria has been met in various ways. The dingy lighting highlighting the depth in the rocky textured cavernous walls comined with the drips audio is a really effective combination. I've also used scaffolding structural motifs to show how the cave was shaped my man made influence into a mine for harvesting including the pistons in particular. Metalic rusty textures also hark back to the man made supports and structures.
What I would change / would've done differently
Most significantly I'd make the first cave a lot bigger and widen some of the halls / doorways since these are the main parts that detract from the player experience. Having different gradients would create more interesting sight lines and I think if the main cave was very large, open and spacious it would contrast with the smaller caverns to emphasise the claustraphobicness.
There were some traps that I tried to do but couldn't get the doors to work how I wanted, knowing how to teleport enemies into a room I might try to put those back in. I had originally intended on putting switches around the rooms that influence parts of the map like a zelda puzzle box dungeon so with being able to teleport enemies it would be fun to add more sporadic encounters and give the player even more influence over their experience. For example instead of making Cave C into a sort of "final room" I might've just made it another room but had the switches influence which doors could be opened or closed at what times. I also think I could've made Cave B and Cave C a more different varying the strategic approach and player experience. Maybe I'd place the portal in the main hub room so it all relates back to each other. However, I do like how the map is currently but it would be intereasting to know wether these changes would make the map more enjoyable.
I might also if I was trying to improve this try to find or make some models that add more to the believability of the space as a cave i.e. carts / piles of rocks / excavation sites, machines or tools.
Overall I did really enjoy this module. It was really rewarding to learn an entirely different engine and learn about an older game / some of the major decisions that've shaped modern games. I also feel like this module has forced me to consider the player perspective a bit more to really think about what decisions the player's are making and how those decidions are shaped by the environment.
How well does the level make the player feel as though they’re playing a true Quake map
I think I strayed away from my intial goal of utilising different elevations to take advantage of the players jumping ability however it was more important to consider all of quake's features to make it feel true to the style. Quake is really good at facing the player with tankier enemies that have a variety of attack styles in comparison to the run and gun style of Doom. My level supports this more strategic approach because the player is constantly having to manoeuvre around and evaluate wether they are in the most advantagous position in relation to the kind of monster they're fighting. For example in the main room the player faces two ogres on two different sides, which throw grenades at you. They way they're positioned means the grenades come from two different directions so the player needs to take large well timed movement sideways to dodge and attack. The platform underneath is horizontal so the player is forced into the sideways crab like movement.
The Quake experience is also denoted by aggressive gameplay forcing the player to take control of the area and manage enemy positioning. In my level the aggressive experience is reinforced because of the tight walkways and clostraphobic walkways, which forces players push and dominate their way through a cave instead of being bullied on a platform by the enmy and losing footing, for example.
How well does the player feel the hostility of the environment
This criteria has been met well because of the variety of different booby traps strewn across the map and the environmental hazards.
Large pools of lava that are difficult to escape lay beneath precarious thin platforms and moving pistons. The moving pistons put the player at a disadvantage because its difficult to shoot enemies whilst moving up and down. Structurally there are some spaces that are claustraphobic and forces confrontation with enemies where the player has to dodge and weave around small pathways, which contrasts withthe bigger more open caverns leaving the player exposed particularly the main cave.
The booby traps mean that the player has to always beon guard because whilst searching for secrets or after intense situations the player is then plunged into battle, potentially in unfavourable conditions due to the unexpected nature of the trap.
