Getting ahead by using someone else's work
The large open map I had created to work on things in a "deathmatch" setting was starting to get on my nerves. It's too large, too symmetrical, and hard to orient yourself in.
This could be address/fixed, but why do that when you can do something else. I went looking for Quake deathmatch maps, which I knew there would be an extensive collection. What I found was a bit surprising, people are still making Quake maps in this day and age?
It makes sense from the perspective of how popular Quake is/was, the continued support of its file formats by the various open source engines that implement them, and effectively how they set the tone for all things to come after.
jam2_tronyn.bsp
jam2_tronyn by tronyn, part of the “Func Map Jam 2 - IKBlue/White Theme”
The lights sorta come across, but not really. So this is not how these would look in a proper Quake engine. You can watch someone speed run it in 1 minute and 42 seconds and see that it's pretty moody.
jam2_lunaran.bsp
jam2_lunaran, by lunaran, part of the “Func Map Jam 2 - IKBlue/White Theme”
This other map, also from the same map jam, was very cool. It's a castle-y structure inside of a volcano-y cave.
It's what I would continue to use for all of my testing and prototyping.