Threewave Unification Beta
This article is a mirror from the original published column at UKGamer.net.

Written by 155 & Rising
July 10, 2001

Six weeks in and above all else I find myself admiring them. Let's face it, the Steve Polge days of half completing a semi-functional, feature-lacking mod for the current fps and over night landing a 40K-a-year job with a leading development house are long gone. Nowadays it's 'realization' and 'efficiency' and cutbacks and nowt. When the so called 'pros' are grasping at straws to make ends meet, and top class dev houses such as Rogue (Alice) slip by the way side due to financial concerns, where the motivation for part-time hobbyist teams trying to make the big time comes from I don't know. I'm sure each of them has their own personal story, some suggest Casey is trying to prove his name in the absence of the long dominating Dave 'Zoid' Kirsch, others have hinted that DD, Dek, Whip and co moved CCTF to the Threewave/Unification stables before it's ailing group of followers surrendered completely to the Tribes 2 machine, but for whatever reasons, they're here, and they're confidently plugging away. This far I believe we're just about to receive code for the so-called Portal system that ties all three modules of the project together, allowing the public to choose 'on the fly' which gametype, map or group of maps and specific game settings they want to play simply by walking through the right doors during the voting stage. Very QW. (For those of you that were there and remember the days of the McKinley map that *didn't* have a bfg. :) ) To date tho we've seen mainly maps and videos and hints of code. The first map pak which went public last month took up a large part of the six week period, giving us a good taste of what's to come, with the quality level already well above standard. Refined versions of the classic Japanese Castles, Schadenfreude and Devolved accompanied by the sparkly new Hot/Cold Crossings made for a varied, spatially simple but tactically complex collection that finally gave the CTF community a good reason to play Quake 3. They play in a homely, familiar fashion despite Quake 3's relatively different feel and style. The early gripes regarding jump pads and the current lack of a grapple option dissolve away quickly in vanilla q3ctf as you ride what seem like waterslide smooth flag runs, where every corner can be cut and every jump pad rj'ed. No more two minute home runs, just lightning fast, knife edge scrambles to glory.

So what's next? As I mentioned, the final bolts are being put into the basic core code that will allow each of the individual game modes, vanilla q3ctf, Classic CTF 2.0 and the as-yet-unamed but highly speculated on third game type, to fit together and work as a whole. The astute amongst you will have noticed a recent post by joint number-cruncher-in-crime Sludge, regarding bugs in the Quake 3 code that were holding the programmers back, but as work arounds become available and the other remaining touches come together we'll soon be playing away in an attempt to smooth everything out before you lot get your hands on it and promptly rip it to shreds. (We are the consumer, ph34r us ;)) In the mean time I've spent some time putting together a quick look at some more of the as-yet-unseen maps that will grace the next release, specifically those by newboy ScanCode, who despite only having joined the online world with the release of Quake 3 Arena, has already mastered the fine art of creating and balancing a map with such ease and effortlessness you'd think he'd have been here with us since qtest.

The peculiar 'Crossings' theme you'll have seen in the first map pak (which first struck me as an apt name for a cheesy ITV soap opera) continues in the next with the three maps we'll look at now. The first of which, Spider Crossings, was the first of Scan's maps to really turn me onto his style. Deceptively complex despite the simple architecture, it bases itself around a terrain surfaced midfield with intersecting overhead walkways that give the map its name.

Carrying a random midfield pup and a regen in each base, the map isn't overly heavy on quad control as defenders tend to be tooled up to the teeth with either regen or megahealth, and so can easily deal with a lone have-a-go-hero and his handy quad spawn. The skill in the map comes from balancing control of the midfield furball *and* the outer base section where the more useful items such as RA, YA and ammo can be found. But in such a small map where access to the upper floor can only be gained without rj either in mid or in base, these areas are extremely easy to lose to marauding attackers so careful co-ordination is required to avoid ending up resource starved and penned up at your own flag.

Next up comes the aptly named Gospel Crossings, with the rather unsurprising choice of gothic textures. Playing heavily on the cathedral theme, the symmetric bases catch the mood well with pillar laiden flag rooms, accompanying religious wall art and ye-olde ambient organ vibes.

Running with only one pup (the quad) the map is much more midfield dependant than Spider, with the large hovering disc becoming the ground to play for. Banking out onto wide side entrance corridors with a stair case option on one side for changing attack levels, locking the very edge of the base off is paramount, whilst also keeping track of the lower, sneakier base entrances to avoid unexpected, megahealth armed bodies appearing at flag.

Of my first impressions on this map, the flag run had to be the most striking, feeling more like a flight simulator at times than an fps. Starting at the enemy flag, the options are vast. RJ to jump pad and out through rail gun door? Left and low to tool up on much needed yellow armour and lg ammo? Left and RJ high to the railgun? Right and high with an RA to boot, or step back on yourself and fall down the jump pad to the dungeon area under the flag room? Choices choices choices, only to have exactly the same at the other end... Drop at midfield to go low? Drop at the edge of the enemy base to soak up the megahealth under mid? Absolutely gorgeous, completely free form and designed to fit every corner-cutting strafe jump you can imagine. Of all the Quake 3 maps I've played so far, I'd also add, this is the only one that's ever come close to Quake 2's The Smelter for me. Despite there being a conversion waiting in the wings for later release, in terms of raw play style, this is so so like the Q2 classic, grapple or no.

And so we come to the last of the trio, the very, very different ssctf5. As yet unnamed, it's first incarnations were unwieldy, confusing beasts that lumbered around in circles apparently never actually going anywhere. Yet despite the mess, the point which Scan seemed to be getting at shined through nicely and has since been acted on and clearly defined through texture updates and changes to structure. It's all about using space. Containing three independent tiers, the map runs in intertwining rings into the main midfield section which many will immediately compare to id's q3dm6. And rightly so, it has much of the same aspects.

The high, 3 story jump pad is there with passages leading off either side on the middle level. The lower floor takes a longer trek round to the back of the base but generally it feels like the rl/ya section of The Camping Grounds in terms of connectivity. And this isn't a bad thing, at all. Very few Quake 3 CTF maps have pushed vertical thought well, with the majority of mappers only utilizing those designs in tiresome and samey space maps that usually feature abruptly ended flag runs as you splatter across the sky box. Now we find a map with good, solid layout that pushes a successful FC both high and low on his way home, with many a chance for doubling back, swapping sides and floors and rj'ing long corridors away.

In need of some final tweaking and a little eye candy which typically finds it's way in after item placement is set, this promises to be a classic, especially with the CCTF 2.0 grapple when we eventually receive the code... All this from a guy who's never actually played Quakeworld properly. :)

So there you go, a brief glimmer of what's to come. Nothing earth shattering of course, but then I'm sure you'll understand if it's pointed out that the idea of a closed beta is for it to *stay closed* :) But as more becomes available I'd imagine a fair whack of it will wind up here ;P

Thought for the day: Max Payne...E3 trailer vid on this month's PC Gamer. Yes, it really is that pretty =)

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