Finding Good Single Player Maps
Pictured, from top to bottom:
Nehahra, Nehahra (again),
A Desert Dusk 2,
Once Upon Atrocity,
Marcher Fortress, And
All That Could Have Been,
Coagula Contest,
Concentric Devastation
If the only single player you have played is the single player that came with Quake, you've been missing out.
It is not that Quake single player is bad, you probably liked exploring it the first time. It is that you've played those maps a thousand times. Every corner has been explored, you've "been there" and "done that". There is no element of surprise.
Custom Maps and Episodes
One of the best things about good custom single player maps is exploring a new landscape or environment.
The fact is, there are many map makers (and teams of map makers) of that have made maps and custom episodes that truely are vastly superior and more entertaining than the original Quake episodes.
Map making tools have improved, custom monsters have been created and a great deal of painstaking care and play testing have gone into newer maps.
Types of Maps
This is hardly an exhaustive list but among the numerous categories of custom maps:
- Egyptian Maps
- Castle Maps
- Base Maps
- Escape Maps
- Tech/Future Maps
- Desert Maps
- Themed Maps
Many maps do not actually fit squarely in any category.
Some maps use only the standard Quake monsters, some maps employ many new monsters such as eels, archers, mega enforcers, spiders and even dragons.
Custom Monsters
Some Examples, most from
Quoth because they were readily available:
Review Sites
The main trick is finding quality single player maps and episodes to play. There are some bad ones out there. For this, we turn to review sites.
In my experience, the best source is the Underworld site:
http://www.planetquake.com/underworld
It is currently updated, meaning new maps get reviewed there from time to time, and they have a section called the Hall of Fame, where the reviewer has selected what he feels are the best maps and episodes ever made based on consensus, feedback via email and other sources.
Some other sites with a great many high quality map reviews:
Ethereal Hell
Team Shambler
RetroQuake
And a site where new listings are frequently posted, discussed and even developed:
Func_Msgboard
And a site with no less than 1000 single player maps serving as archive so files do not get lost. This site is run by the Spirit and also features map ratings on many maps.
Quaddicted
Quake Clients/Engines
This is sticky subject because everyone has their favorite Quake client. My favorite Quake client is JoeQuake because it has a built-in maps menu, otherwise taking the pain out of single player.
Clients favored for single player use:
FitzQuake is an improved GL client that is the engine of choice by many in the mapping community. It is an improved single player engine with more options in the control panel with improved rendering and higher limits than GLQuake while remaining faithful.
DarkPlaces is a graphically enhanced client with countless of options in the control panel. It is an increased capacity engine, capable of handling more entities, sounds, etc.
JoeQuake is available in the Win and GL varieties and is a more flexible and newskool Quake with nice features like a maps menu and, like
FitzQuake, has higher entity limits than regular Quake.
Mod Single Player
In addition to standard old school single player, there are mods and total conversions. I'm no expert on this subject, but some examples:
QMatrix which is a Matrix conversion and is very nice.
Prydon's Gate is an RPG quest style total conversion. Very different, although I admit I am not really into that type of play.
X-Men: Ravages of Apocalypse is a total conversion.
More total conversions can be found at the QuakeTerminus mod gallery:
http://www.quaketerminus.com/addon.htm
Summary
There are enough good single player maps to last the average person a lifetime.
This is just one point of view and I don't claim to know it all. Feel free to add your additions, corrections, opinions and comments in this thread.
