A Soil-Tilling Sergal 🌱Mapping is still more a hobby for me, so a lot of my efforts are getting familiar with texture packs and seeking out a style I like. Seeing a cool texture will spawn ideas for geometry, and geometry will in turn dictate what textures are appropriate.
It's a nice little "gameplay" loop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Dr2CxUeME
One of the restrictions of the map jam was an adherence to the provided texture packs. Now that I'm out of the jam, I have the opportunity to do something I've been thinking about since I watched this strangely inspirational video about a guy who painted the walls of his maps with anime girls.
A lifetime of custom maps created by fans of the Quake series has instilled a sense of expected dialogue not just with the gameplay world, but with other fans of these games. Like your own little tabletop campaign, you get to guide players through stories or hack'n'slashes or puzzles.
Yet the dialogue typically ends there, maybe using some custom texture packs that still speak the language of the world you must navigate. Rarely does a map author speak directly to a player in such a personal way. Rarely does a map author allow other areas of their personal life to encroach.
That thought has stuck with me. It's expected that you, the player, are coming to *me* for an experience, and I get to dictate what that experience is. But more than that, I am free to present an experience that transcends the game. I can make you happy, or horny, or deeply uncomfortable.
I can include things that have nothing to do with the game. Who is going to stop me? Am I "ruining the atmosphere" of Quake if I include buxom vixens?
I'd argue that the Lovecraftian absurdity of Quake is in agreement with furry porn. What else is better at melting normie minds than werewolf dick?
