Essentially it allows mappers to make maps that spawn monsters dynamically (from the player’s perspective, seemingly randomly), making for a much more intense, faster style of play. Unfortunately it doesn’t just work with any map. The mod itself comes with a modified version of the Quake levels, with entire episodes crammed into one map—pretty neat!—as well as a small map by another author that’s pretty good.
necros compares the mod to Left4Dead, though I’m not familiar with that game.
It’s pretty good! Like I said, the dynamic spawning feature completely changes the gameplay in a very fresh, welcome way. I admit I somtimes feel a bit bored sometimes with the basic Quake gameplay in a lot of maps, which is why mods like this and Qonquer appeal to me so much.
It’s a shame that other mappers haven’t run with this mod, but I can see why. The main limitation is that you need to use a specific version of FitzQuake for the mod to work. This is a real limitation on the size and detail of the maps I supposed—you can’t use the newer formats I assume—and FitzQuake is Windows-only (though luckily I use Boot Camp).
Still… it would be nice to see more maps for this wink
Since I mentioned Qonquer, does anyone know of any mods that significantly change the basic Quake gameplay? I know of sock’s “In the Shadows” mod, as well as negke’s Lower Forecourt which has an excellent arena mode. Can’t think of anything else, really. (I’m not counting mods like Quoth which add new features, items, and monsters but preserve the existing gameplay.)
How odd to mention Lower Forecourt in the same breath as ITS or mods in general (try Red Slammer and Runic Recycling, too)…
Of course there are countless mods that completely change the gameplay, many classics. QuakeRally, AirQuake, KickFlip, Prydon Gate, The Ascension of Vigil, TargetQuake, TransloQuake, to just name a few off the top of my head. I don’t know of a complete Quaddicted-like repository for mods, but you can check Quaketerminus, ModDB and Quakewiki.net as a starting point.
ne_dynamic is very cool and I enjoyed it for the most part. But i really prefer the frenetic pace of the DMSP mod. They aren’t really competing mods IMO. They both have different strengths. http://strlen.com/maps/dmsp/
Gave DMSP a spin–well, several spins. I love it. I think Qonquer would be a better point of comparison, since they’re both arena horde-mode mods, but I think I prefer DMSP. It’s great for a quick, intense blast of Quake compared to the endurance test provided by Qonquer, but the main reason DMSP edges out Qonquer is that DMSP can work on any DM map, and there are a ton of good DM maps out there–compared to the small handful of good Qonquer maps split over its two releases.
It’s easy for a dedicated Q1SP player like me to forget that Quake’s primary legacy, for most people, lies in that it popularized MP deathmatch on the PC–and DMSP is a great opportunity for me to admire the craft of great Quake DM mappers.
