MAPLE STREET: MY ATTEMPT TO MAP IN QUAKE

I was initially inspired to make a Quake map for Halloween this year by, of all things, the map koth_maple_ridge_event of Team Fortress 2 fame. Something about the aesthetics of the map was wonderful, reminding me of cold October evenings when I was a child.

Beginning development all the way back in October of 2022, I reassessed the map and decided to finish it over the next couple of weeks. The following are entries from a journal I kept with each release of the map.

*2023-08-13* (DV 02)

First journal entry. I'm deciding to write this for future reference. Got the main chapel of the temple, the hallway of the temple, and the little patio (?) area that (is supposed to) hold the silver key in-place. All that's needed to be done is to create that little offshoot room, a trapdoor-esque trap that launches an ogre from the ceiling area in the hallway, and maybe an extra secret - alongside collision-related stuff for the roof of the temple, and I should be done with the temple and able to move on to the "Maple Street" section.

*2023-08-14* (DV 03)

Second journal entry. Started making the skybox on the east end of the map. (Temple) It's rather difficult to do so, as the complex and vertical geomotry poses issues for creating a realistic and open space, but I think I solved it. Lord help me if my brushwork leads into a vis leak or whatever later down the line. Added a few secrets here and there. Temple is otherwise done; it's time to start building the apartment's frame, and Maple Street proper.

*2023-08-15* (DV 04)

Third journal entry, last time I'll write this line. I decided to crap out some program in Rust that - albiet entirely CLI and barebones at the moment - calculates the proper scaling needed for a brush and a texture. Due to that, I've finally unfucked the scaling of textures in the "blue" hallway on the far-Eastern side of the map, alongside the big glass on the edges of the temple. Decided to also add some extra visual flair with some planed angles on each side of the first-floor temple door. Will consult people that actually make Quake maps on if anything in the map files ccould cause a Visplane leak, but otherwise, it's time to move on to the rest of the map... after over a year of on-and-off work. Lord.

*2023-08-24* (DV 05)

Good Lord, a week since the last update? In my defense, I was hitting one of those near-routine depressive phases that I have every now and then. Anyhow, decided to do some rudimentary changes for the sake of aesthetics to get me back into the groove. Made the windows/glass elements, from the ceiling glass panes to the wall-mounted stained glass of the temple area "sunken". Also extended the south-side gate to be more open.

*2023-08-28* (DV 06)

Got back to work. Finished up that little castle-esque area on the Eastern side of the map. Also finished up the skybox for the plaza. Things are coming together pretty alright. I'm split 50/50 on how to handle the building to the West. Perhaps It'll be entirely within walls - as in, a series of clausterphobic hallways within the walls that have that church texture. Maybe not. Only time will tell or whatever. Also decided to start including .map files as a sort of backup - heavily doubting someone is willing to steal my damn map

*2023-08-31* (DV 07)

Worked on the proper Northern gate; the original piece of brushwork that the silver key will open. It now leads into a pathway that slopes downward, with brickwork flanking both sides. I've decided to make two spires on the edges of this brickwork, and a large cross, with a crucified zombie on it. I'm planning on adding a sewer-like area accessable by way of that bottom pathway. It shall contain the gold key. The player will be locked in that underground sewer area after entering it through the lowered pathway, and will be forced to fight through it. They'll exit through a small shack on the Western half of the path, being able to open the gate that I've clearly opened a hole for on said Western side. The eastern side will be a secret, accessable by way of blast jumping.

*2023-09-15* (DV 08)

Damn, 15 days of absolutely nothing. I really gotta get my butt moving if I want this released on time. I finished up the sewer area -- a basic two-way "Walk this way to unlock the other way" arena-type of section. It's the home of the gold key, which means that the map's basic geometry and design is almost finished. Yay. Now all I need to work on to get the map done from its "Alpha" (As in, getting the basics of the map done) to its "Beta" (Which is making the map ready to be released) is the actual "Maple Street" which shall connect the Northern and Southern gates of the map, the building accessable by the gold key, and then the exit area which shall be accessed through said building accessable by the gold key. Not sure what I'll style the building after exactly. A living area? A factory or foundry? Should the design lean heavily into hellish metal? Probably, actually. And then I'll need to probably work on the texturing, as this is intended to be a Halloween release. I already did the same thing with Counter-Strike's *de_inferno*, making *de_inferno_event* in 2021. It's as simple as exporting the textures, and then color correcting them to either lean towards a warm orange, or a cold purple. That really kicks in the Halloween feel. Maybe add some premade pumpkins (That I shall shamelessly steal from HWJam2).

*2023-09-20* (DV 09)

Alright, progress is certainly getting done. The idea for the building: a morgue. The purplish grave textures will be outfitted into a cemetary, and the morgue will soon contain the Gold Key. This Gold Key will open up the Gold Door, which is accessable by way of the Plaza's Western Side. That entire open space? The current plan is to soon use some brushwork to make a living-quarters type area. This area, once cleared through, will end in the player accessing a well-guarded bridge that extends over the centre of the proper street. This will lead them to access an... uppercove? Enclave? Cliff? That will be full of trees and contain the exit. Real beautiful spot I'm planning it to be, lotsa pumpkins. The morgue will be a trap-filled cramped area with a decent bit of lava. ALSO, NOTE: replace the current gold key with a second silver key! Due to how Quake works, I need to use two silver keys. The Morgue (Which will be locked by a silver key) cannot be accessed before the first silver key, in the church/temple/thing, is used.

*2023-09-26* (DV 10)

I've wrapped up the vast majority of actual brushwork and map design. There's now an exit portal on the far Eastern side of the map, which will be accessed by a bit of a tunnel-like bridge that sprouts out of the Eastern wall of the main plaza - accessable by way of the Gold Key, found in the morgue. I should be adding the monsters and weapons as I see fit, and then finally swapping up the textures, and then the map should be pretty much done. Yay!

*2023-10-02* (DV 11)

Happy spooky month! I've nearly finished the fundamental brushwork. All I need to do is add some protections against breaking the map's flow by way of blast jumping, and some light decoration that'll likely go with monster spawning and enemy placement. But otherwise? The brushwork is done! You can now finally exit the map - hallejulah. I'm quite proud of it. Now to the fun part.

*2023-10-05* (DV 12)

Alright, the map's basic geometry is finally finished. In this version of the map, you, the player, can fully navigate the map's intended playspace and eventually exit the map. The steps now are to firstly do the (re)texturing, then to add monsters and weaponry, and finally take care of the lighting. After that? The map is released!

*2023-10-18* (DV 13)

Oh LORD, it's been a good long while since I worked on this map. 13 days since I last released a dev version. And it's the 13th version. Spooky. Anyways, I had an issue getting sunlight to work. No matter what I did, there wasn't an increase in the light from Skybox. So I decided to just make the ambient light 100. I'll finish up lighting by the end of today, and hopefully release two dev versions in one day. Once that's done, it's all about making the monsters, which if I stay focused will only take a day, and then bam. Map done.

*2023-10-24* (DV 14)

Finally finished up the lighting. Added extra custom textures. Two more things - monsters, which should be rather simple - and adding pissing pumpkins here and there.

*2023-10-26* (DV 15)

Added monsters to the church. Really going off of "vibes" with how the map will play out, as since compiling - unlike Doom maps - isn't as fast as 1, 2, and 3, there's a lot more guesswork that has to go into this type of thing. I'm actually writing this section while waiting for the map to compile. Decided to replace the ogre trap with a... Lord, forgot what it's name was. The jumpy dude, huntin' dude. Whatever. Upon picking up a Super Shotgun - available on all difficulties, unlike the shack SSG - the metal bars slide away, letting the darn thing jump in. The intention - which I notice is a lot more common here than when mapping on Doom - is to create an effect like when you notice a bug and it begins flying out of fucking nowhere. Furthermore, writing a day after the previous bit, I've finished the general design. It's over. It's done. The map is finally ready. I did it.

*2023-10-29* (Release)

Well, the released map is finally here. I procrastinated on adding finishing touches, but otherwise, it's good. I shoved a tree into a small room with four teleports and called it a "skill selection area." But otherwise, it's pretty much done. The map is complete BOOTY when it comes to design, but I'm happy with it.

The pumpkins were never added.

You can find the finished version of the map here.