A lot of the maps you have linked there, look pretty boring and I can immagine them having a bad flow/gameplay. On the other hand there are some nice ones in that list aswell.
casual pub servers need good looking maps first, to please the alcholic eye, and pretty light to run by, with mindless fool shooting at anything random
q4 maps are all complete rubbish and all mappers forgot about the lights, they are all lit using ambient lights and no dynamic lighting etc
you can get the iso from anywhere, foa on irc dcc send it to you, you wait 4 years with a torrent, you could buy it on steam and just get someone to send the exe and dll in quake 4 root folder
or you could be real 1337 and have a basics 30mb copy of q4, and connect to a server and download all pk4 files from a pure server
it will never be open while quakelive exists, its easy to use CSockets or whatever and dump end of game stats to a remote database for ladders etc sending teh struct array the hud uses
I just find mapping fun, its like asking a sculptor why they sculpt things... its just nice seeing the end result, and coming up with ideas etc. You might ask, why choose Q3 to do this with, well I just happen to like the game, and thats all part of the fun.
Why don't Q3 maps get p0rted to Q4, and why aren't there many mappers for Q4? Well I think Q3 is a lot more fun to map for, mainly because theres a ton of textures out there which can really make a big difference to how your map looks. Q4 just doesn't have as many resources, and takes more work to make new ones.
When I made maps for Q3 I really wanted them to be in QL, and that was part of my motivation, but as of yet they aren't in QL, but I wasn't to know that would happen at the time.
One of my maps were just added to lvl btw ;D see what you think of it: http://lvlworld.com/review.php?id=2208
Its not mega-original, but it was more aimed at gameplay, though I did make a custom texture set for it which no other maps use atm. I guess you've seen a lot of tech themes in Q4 so are bored of them though :p
if you add water, using func_liquid on q4 editor context menu, make a box brush and select func_liquid while brush is selected to make the main liquid pool, setup the entity, if you add a "damage" from the damage.def file, then damage will be applied to player at random times from 1->5 second intervals,. then make a brush the same size to cover the func_liquid and add the liquid material to it
I don't know about Q3 maps, but i still am making maps for Doom 2. Been trying to wrap my head around 3d floors and slopes and other ZDoom shit lately, it's such a bother to do that without proper Doom Builder plugins. :p
Making Doom maps always made more sense to me because they're mostly for single player so anyone can pop on them and have some fun, even if the game is dead (which Doom, surprisingly, isn't).
you could just make maps for d3 and have all the bling using the bump and lights and swinging lights etc
doom 3 has a story, most mappers try to do addon maps and stick to the story instead of just making doom maps, which mappers will be doing with doom 4 which is suppose to be oldskool doom game play,. just A->B and get to the next level
Yeah i suppose so. I did try my hand in Q1 and Q2 mapping but couldn't be bothered to make a full-time switch, i guess i'm too lazy to do that.
To be perfectly honest, big part of me sticking with Doom 2 is that making maps for it is fairly easy (although you have to get creative about with the architecture due to the lack of 3d floors), no need for scripts and other shit, just make some rooms, corridors, etc, add detail, give the level a coherent theme, make it challenging and viola. Making a decent map takes maybe two weeks tops without getting fancy about it, i'd wager making a decent map for say Doom 3 would take twice the time or maybe even more than that, mostly because you can't get away with simplistic design without making your shit look crude. :p Plus i find the flow of the game to be superior to every single other fps game i have played. Like you said, A->B and get to the next level, no bullshit objectives just blast your way through the baddies on the way to the exit switch/sector.
Some people get really damn creative with their designs, it's actually fucking insane what can be done with a 20 years old (!) engine. My maps are nothing special but it's a satisfying creative outlet.
you dont need scripts for doom 3 for just standard doom maps in doom 3 or quake 4, you can still just do it all by targets and triggers like quake 1 and 2, openning doors and teleporting new enemies etc