Quake 2 rocket arena1/9/2024 Keränen has been a key part of all of my favorite FPS games, and could be considered an unsung hero of gaming level design.Quake II was the highly anticipated sequel to id Software's revolutionary Quake. Keränen then left ION Storm for Valve Software and has been a level designer for every Valve FPS game from Half-Life 2 onwards: including Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, the Counterstrike series, and Shacknews GOTY 2020, Half-Life: Alyx. The maps were so beloved by the Quake community that Keränen was recruited by ION Storm and worked on Anachronox and Daikatana. There was an entire series of IKSPQ levels, five in total plus a level-selector map. He single-handedly created the AirQuake mod - an airplane dogfighting total conversion for Quake. The creator of IKSPQ5, Iikka Keränen, was a renowned Doom and Quake mapper and modder. Name: The Secret Installation, ikspq5.bsp.Close quarters, vertical fighting defines IKSPQ5 It's just a blast to play and the only bad thing about The Secret Installation is how short the playthrough ends up being. Claustrophobia plays a part as well, requiring the player to dodge and backtrack where needed to avoid attacks. Enemy defenders man lookouts and hide in clever ambushes that give the fights a sense of verticality. Despite that limitation, Keränen crafts a series of interesting combat encounters. The enemy selection is stuck with the idiom of the time: base-type levels only have Grunts, Enforcers, and Rottweilers. something not quite human! Lighting wizardry: all the light of this indoor scene is natural, Something's crashed through the roof of the base. Keränen was experimenting with environmental storytelling, something that would lead to success in his later career (see below for more). Much of the lighting is environmental - from the sky itself, from crenellated windows and skylights, and in one memorable scene from something having smashed through the roof. Elevators make mechanical sense, rather than being levitating slabs. Crates are either neatly stacked or in disarray for good reasons. Light fixtures all have dimension, rather than being simple textures pasted to walls. There are neat details everywhere - it's nearly impossible to find a simple horizontal wall or ceiling. This menacing and ominous mouth warns of a challenge ahead. The military installation looks like one brutalist slab-like flourishes give a feeling of impenetrability. By this time Keränen was at his peak of Quake mapping skills (as it turns out, this was his last Quake release!) and his detailed brushwork is on full display. Keränen created 94 new textures to give his secret military base an updated look, many of them inspired by then-recent preview screenshots of Quake II. What makes it stand out is that it's simply gorgeous to look at. There isn't much story or background to the level, so it fits in perfectly with the base game's theme. The Secret Installation, by Iikka "Fingers" Keränen (better known as IKSPQ5) is a compact and detailed military base-style level. It was the mod community that brought architectural artistry to Quake. In short, id Software Quake levels tended to be uninteresting. While the base game had excellent enemy encounters and was dripping with atmospheric touches, the maps themselves tended to be blocky and lacking in embellishment. What I enjoyed most was when mappers would stretch the capabilities of Quake to present new narratives, to show strange new worlds, and to inhabit those places with thrilling combat. For me, SPQ was where I found my interests. I didn't have a great internet connection when Quake was at its peak, so didn't have much interest in the foundational Quake mods like Rocket Arena or Threewave CTF - or even in Quakeworld. Today, we'll explore the pure architectural creativity of single-player Quake levels, also known as SPQ. In previous entries in the C:\QUAKE series, we've explored novel game ideas, moviemaking and speedrunning, and the flexibility of Quake's creation abilities.
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