Summary

A single player level for Quake, with solid ramps and brutalist podiums reminiscent of the forerunner architecture of Halo. Made in Trenchbroom.

Goals

My intention here was to make the player feel they are intruding on the surface of a machine and messing with its routines. To that end, guards follow patrol patterns at key high points, there are opportunities for the player to use over-hanging “plugs” to crush enemies, and there is a small “vista” set piece in which they sabotage a critical component.

Layout

The layout for this was inspired by an old hard drive I removed from my PC. I saw it and thought: “That looks like a 90s shooter level.”

From there I drew a very rough plan on paper, figuring out a basic player path. This would be changed many times before I completed the project. In the end, I had to carve out many internal areas beneath the machinery to balance out the feeling of openness and allow for a sensible flow.

Play

You can download this map from Quaddicted, a huge repository maintained with great care by the Quake mapping community.

Thanks

Thank you to Ben “Makkon” Hale for the textures, to Bal and Tim Stonks for playtesting, and to Hazel Whorley for the skybox.

Video playthrough