On a side note, I really hope Epic can open source UE1. I know folks on OldUnreal is already doing a lot but I think they can do much more if the whole engine is available. Kudos to ID for pioneering open sourcing their engines.
> In recent years, however, some mappers have tried more ambitious/unconventional designs with poly counts far exceeding those of the original id Software levels from 25 years ago.
Can anyone tell me the best way to discover such maps?
Many of the best community-made maps have already been added to the Arcane Dimensions mod. My personal favorite is Tears of the False God by Bal. Truly incredible work.
I guess I could just go to https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/ which is a list of maps and sort by size. But that will not neccesarily give me the most complex maps (I might just get map packs etc)
QuadAddicted has a "Random Screenshot" function[1] that will essentially show recommendations for levels that have achieved a reasonably high rating. It's not necessarily limited to large levels only, but most of the recommendations will be decent. Refresh for a different set of recommendations.
If you're specifically looking for "large" levels that will stress even modern Quake engines, the Quake mapper "ORL" is known for making huge, sprawling levels, with "Ter Shibboleth"[2] being the most extreme example. Also notable mentions are the maps "Tears of the False God" and "The Forgotten Sepulcher", both part of Arcane Dimensions 1.8[3] (and Arcane Dimensions in general is filled with very complex maps).
Also worth mentioning is Honey[4]. While it's not as technically engine-breaking as some modern maps, the level design and gameplay is nevertheless known for its sheer scale, so much so that "Honey" has basically become its own map genre.
As a general heuristic for finding large, complex maps:
1. In the QuadAddicted map section[5], sort by the most recently-released maps. The Quake mapping community is small, and many of the mappers have been doing so for a long time. Many of the newer maps will be larger in scale and complexity than older maps from the '90s.
2. Mappers these days often organize their map releases into so-called "Jams" that fit a particular theme. If you search for "jam" in the map name, it'll usually be a high quality map pack.
3. "Speed Maps" and "Turtle Maps" are maps created under a significant time constraint. They can be interesting exercises, and allow mappers to try and get feedback on new things, but if you're looking for large, polished maps, you can skip these.
Yeah I would be interested in a “MetalQuake” using the Metal API (mostly to see and learn from the code. I already have a bunch of ways to play Quake).
