Pak Attack: Func Map Jam 9: Contract Revoked / Knave Theme (2017) [BQTN 144a-c | PC w/ Quakespasm]

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CnEY

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Published on July 10, 2022 9:59:01 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghhSUSgVFHE

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Counter-Strike: Source (2004)

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Holy cow, what a jam. I came into this hoping to see justice done to one of my favorite themes, and got a pak that offers easily 3x-4x the playtime of any of the other Func Map Jams and has a ton of incredibly strong and elaborate maps.

This pak was such a beast that I had to upload it in 2 parts, bucking the trend of keeping each jam's full playthrough as a single video. This post contains playthroughs of the vast majority of the maps; the few I saved for last will be posted separately.

05:47 - The Stars Turn and a Time Presents Itself by Skacky (start map)

This deserves its own entry for being the biggest start map I've ever seen. It's so big I didn't even discover all of the map entrances when I first looked through it. It also has its fair share of secrets, not only for nightmare difficulty, as I would figure out later...

13:52 - A Conspiracy of Cartographers by Kell

This map was not what I expected, being a low-gravity void map, but it certainly provided an interesting introduction (especially the exit portal) and prepared me to expect some interesting spins on the theme.

30:45 - Eurotophobia by Naitelveni

I was looking forward to seeing more maps by Naitelveni, and this doesn't disappoint - it went above and beyond the jam's theme. It starts in a very unexpected base environment, but quickly transitions into what is unmistakably knave, yet clearly its own aesthetic. The blood pool area makes me think a bit of Insomnia, and we'll get to see what Naitelveni does with that theme in Func Map Jam X.

1:05:24 - Stress Induced Coprophagia by Mukor

Relatively vanilla knave styling with lots of uniformly-structured rooms, and a pretty intense but manageable final arena.

1:25:55 - The Brimstone Mine by Giftmacher

Another entry notable for going above and beyond with the knave theme; some of the setpieces even remind me of Dimension of the Machine which released years later. The skybox and fog provide a unique vibe, and the garden area was quite the splendid surprise.

2:13:06 - Amputated Extremities by Ionous

Sadly this is only a fraction of what was planned, and the full release seemingly never happened. The small size of this map encouraged me to go secret-hunting, which kept me occupied for a bit. (It's kind of terrifying that this small fraction of the originally-planned map already had 6 secrets...)

2:40:19 - Knight Gaunts by dumptruck_ds

Probably the most notable element of this map is the wide-open area referencing The Gantlet from Doom II. This map had a couple of brutal encounters, especially at the end, which paired a battle arena with incredibly narrow paths along a damaging floor.

3:15:20 - Cloudy with a Chance of Gibs by Bloughsburgh

This level was unexpectedly unique - it felt like it went for the halfway point between knave and zerstorer themes. Unfortunately this map seemed more obtuse than other mjb maps I've played. The secrets felt very obscure; fortunately, the map's readme once again included a guide to finding them - and even then I had a hard time with a couple. Reusing the grinders as a secret progression mechanic was really clever though.

4:43:11 - Mouth of Yraal by NewHouse

This was an appropriate choice to play next, as it took on a similarly gritty angle to the knave theme. I expected it to be brutal, and it certainly was in spots, but I think I enjoyed exploring this more than other NewHouse maps I've played.

5:50:43 - Mensis Keep by Breezeep

I was impressed by Breezeep's first map in Func Map Jam 6, and this is another solid entry.

6:22:57 - Delusions of Grandeur by DelusionalBear

DBear's first map is architecturally a solid effort, but unfortunately suffers from some resource distribution balancing issues, to the point where I found myself needing to axe a shambler to death (which Travail prepared me for).

6:36:04 - The Book of Disconnect by OneTruePurple

I was a little worried about this map after OTP's first map in Func Map Jam 1 was its weakest entry, but he clearly made tons of progress in the 2.5 years since, and this map is a solid effort, though it certainly has its brutal aspects what with nail traps and spawns.

7:07:03 - Ruins of the Elder God by ShoTro

I unfortunately didn't have the best experience with this one. This map was clearly very ambitious, but I think I accidentally sequence-broke it, and by the time I realized it, I wasn't about to restart it and replay it multiple times (a mechanic it uses due to rune collection).

8:47:11 - The Tugging by Haunter

Another first map, quite short but not bad. I could have done without the crushers...

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For more BQTN (Better Quake Than Never), see details and the full playlist here:    • Better Quake Than Never  

This was originally livestreamed. Catch BQTN live on weekends at 8PM US Eastern on YouTube, Twitch, or Glimesh! You can find links to all 3 on my site at https://cney.stream/ along with a page listing everything I've played in the series.

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