Embraced.wad {MBF21} 3 Maps - idgames release!

Congratulations on the release! This is a beautifully crafted map set. The architecture and colors blend together in a surreal verdant tech base with well-thought-out fights. It was great fun to test it!

Looks fantastic. Early Mass kicked my butt but I might be ready to give this a go!

Amazing stuff, man. You've really stepped up from ITYSM (which I already enjoyed quite a lot) especially in the layout and interconnectivity of these new maps (and in such a short time!). The visuals in particular stand out as especially gorgeous this time around, same with the combat here, which feels right at home for me on UV. This made my evening, thanks for making them :)
 

Some bugs and comments:

18 minutes ago, eater29 said:

Amazing stuff, man. You've really stepped up from ITYSM (which I already enjoyed quite a lot) especially in the layout and interconnectivity of these new maps (and in such a short time!). The visuals in particular stand out as especially gorgeous this time around, same with the combat here, which feels right at home for me on UV. This made my evening, thanks for making them :

 

Awesome thanks for playing them so quick!  

Surprised I didn't notice the HOM in that fight.  As for killing turret monsters on your own I understand the mild complaint, I didn't think my placement was too bad and always gave enough ammo so it never bothered me.  

As for the other stuff, 

The revenant head clipping isn't a wad-specific bug, it's due to the fact that revenants are actually shorter than their sprite would make you believe, and that's why they can enter corridors with seemingly too low of a ceiling. Not sure if this was addressed in MBF21, someone more knowledgeable should chip in here.

This looks fun.  Downloading.  Congrats on the release.

11 minutes ago, Treehouseminis said:

The silent teleporters in that specific fight I went back and forth on a lot.  I'm 99% sure there isn't a way to make one direction teleporters that aren't silent in this format.

I think it’s possible to do something like silent teleporter into a teleport closet -> regular teleporter into the map. It’s a bit of an over-engineered solution to minor problem, but it should address it.

Been seeing your progress for a while, congrats on the release! Gonna play this soon!

2 hours ago, eater29 said:

I think it’s possible to do something like silent teleporter into a teleport closet -> regular teleporter into the map. It’s a bit of an over-engineered solution to minor problem, but it should address it.

That's genius... I will probably do this lol.  

I've only played 'Flourishing' so far but I'm already very impressed with how thoughtful the combat puzzles are and what an impact the visuals and the space have. One thing though - the ammo balance felt a bit off on UV towards the end. I tried as much as I could to encourage infighting but I ended up with 0 ammo all over the board by the time the last archies and the last cyber dropped. Any advice?

1 hour ago, DreadWanderer said:

I've only played 'Flourishing' so far but I'm already very impressed with how thoughtful the combat puzzles are and what an impact the visuals and the space have. One thing though - the ammo balance felt a bit off on UV towards the end. I tried as much as I could to encourage infighting but I ended up with 0 ammo all over the board by the time the last archies and the last cyber dropped. Any advice?

Hmm I never had much issue with ammo. Map02 is a little more ammo conscious as well, but I added some ammo last minute to map02.

In map01 and 2 you really have to use the cybers to kill most of the stuff.  Map03 is a more linear slaughter adventure and ammo shouldnt be a huge issue hopefully.

The first fight with the raising walls, and especially the fight after the red key door, the cyber can kill almost every enemy on the ground level after you go up top and activate the pinky rev trap.  

Updated post with V2 already.  Fixed most of the stuff eater29 pointed out :)  Certain fight in question now has teleporter effects so you can be more aware of the monsters location.  Raised some floors around death pits in the final area so you're not confused if you can go on them or not. 

I beat MAP01 of this this evening and I already dig it! I'm not that well-versed in this style of mapping but regardless this is one of the prettiest maps I've ever played - the mix of blocky, inhuman architecture with the plants and water and wood textures, all highlighted in that cold, cold green... there's a real alien beauty to it. It also plays very nicely, I like how some of the geometry reacts to what you do, especially when the cyber is sniping you down and your cover is lowering away on either side, right up to the moment you can escape, it makes for a good dramatic moment. I also found it surprisingly manageable for me on UV! (unless I had picked HMP by accident lol), very eager to play the next ones!

1 hour ago, ivymagnapinna said:

I beat MAP01 of this this evening and I already dig it! I'm not that well-versed in this style of mapping but regardless this is one of the prettiest maps I've ever played - the mix of blocky, inhuman architecture with the plants and water and wood textures, all highlighted in that cold, cold green... there's a real alien beauty to it. It also plays very nicely, I like how some of the geometry reacts to what you do, especially when the cyber is sniping you down and your cover is lowering away on either side, right up to the moment you can escape, it makes for a good dramatic moment. I also found it surprisingly manageable for me on UV! (unless I had picked HMP by accident lol), very eager to play the next ones!

Thanks a lot!  The maps get a little harder as they go, but if map01 was easy it shouldn't be too bad then :) 

That "Plasma" MIDI sounds a bit different from the one in "Toxic Touch." It lends the map a weird, "This is slightly 'off'" feeling that fits well with the deep turquoise lights and greenery. I'm still getting chumped out by the initial fights on UV, but this is good stuff, man!

This looks really interesting! Gonna give it a try.

My body is ready

3 hours ago, Flyxolydian said:

My body is ready

Ok so, 3 hours later. Gahdamn. 

That third map is going to be a challenge to do in one go, but I reckon it's doable. Smashed it man!

56 minutes ago, Flyxolydian said:

Ok so, 3 hours later. Gahdamn. 

That third map is going to be a challenge to do in one go, but I reckon it's doable. Smashed it man!

Thanks!  Look forward to the videos :)

dsda-demos (v0.25.6): embraced-ryiron.zip. Warning, the map03 demo is long. I recorded it in multiple sessions (I learned that you can use -recordtofrom to continue a dsda-demo where you left off).

Your maps keep getting better and better, both visually and gameplay wise. A few random notes:

* Map01 is a really solid opener. Didn't have too much trouble with this one.

* A few fights gave me a bit of trouble, sometimes just figuring out the right strategy, other times having too little ammo/health going in.

* I think the only fight that seemed somewhat unfair was the tower fight in map03 where the viles, PEs, and baby cybers teleport in. You can get pretty unlucky with how the enemies teleport in and The PEs can mess you up if you don't get rid of them quick. It's really easy to catch a rocket while being blocked by a enemy floating above your head.

* I ended up pretty low on ammo in some fights, often during the cleanup.

* I like the hurt floor pit in map03 near where the red key is, which has the soulsphere on the small lift. Makes grabbing it while the fighting is going risky. Maybe swapping the soulsphere/mega in this area so you get an easy soulsphere, but a more risky opportunity for the mega?

* The final fight is map03 is actually fairly easy (the hardest bit for me was not falling off things like an idiot).  I was able to just stay in the first area and circle strafe and the other half of the fight just bunch up at the fence. The arena looks really cool, but it basically felt half unused how I played it. The clean up ends up being time consuming in this fight.

* I had to look at the map editor to figure out how to exit map03 :-). I got lost in a few places through the maps, and sometimes it was hard to tell what a switch did, or if there were multiple switches I needed to press.

* I managed to find a few cheeses for fights, though I think most of them are fine, especially in the larger maps where there's still more than enough difficult fights to survive.

* The fights are really enjoyable. There's a good mix of combat puzzles, cramped fights, and just more straightforward slaughter. The variety of encounters keeps the maps interesting, and I like how you occasionally exhaust cell ammo so the rocket launcher stays useful even after you get the bfg.

* Hope the demos are helpful, and enjoy a bunch of dumb deaths on my part :-).

Hey thanks for the demos @ryiron !  

gave me some thoughts on some possible changes.  Maybe add some rockets to map03 in a few spots.  I never ran low in ammo while testing so when those pesky arachnos were still alive it made that other fight weird. 

All the "cheese" you found didn't feel too bad because you still died several times.  Actually the 2nd wave in the fight with the pit, you can lure the revs out and start the next fight. Don't press both buttons and the cybers can shoot the revs while seeing you in between the purple tech pillar.  I left that in because even I got annoyed a little at that fight and it's kinda speedrun strats lol.  

I do have a habit of wanting to make increasingly big fights but they never turn out too difficult.  After the manic arena the library is Im ok with it in this map, Im going to try to lean off huge ass arenas in the future.  You can always speed things up by pressing the buttons right away and causing more infighting cuz it makes the baby cybers spawn as well.  

I could also maybe use a different color than green to signal progression, sometimes I used purple but if you had trouble figuring out where to go I wanna say because the switch or area had green around when fucking everything else has green too :P 

Just beat this set tonight, it's wonderful. I've played very few maps of MAP03's weight class before so beating it felt like a real accomplishment. It was quite the long and stressful experience for me though, just because I'm not really into the Sunder-y genre of mapping, so even though it's certainly the most impressive of the 3 I doubt I'll revisit it.

I think my favourite has got to be MAP02. It's got a funky layout and holds a lot of fights that really draw out the "combat puzzle" elements the best, and they lead to a lot of really tense moments when they tighten up on space and Archvile sightlines, but the map as a whole doesn't feel like a stressful ordeal. I think it's the amount of recovery items you placed, I never felt like I was going to the next fight with completely unreasonable health and ammo so it all felt chunked up enough to feel doable. (alternatively, I might just be better at doom than I think.) It's got the perfect midi too, it keeps you driven forward, on edge, and in awe of the sheer foreignness of this place all at the same time. (I was wondering if you could link where you found it uploaded/avaliable for download?) Overall I'm coming out of this wanting to test myself on more of this style of map, so thanks for that!

1 hour ago, ivymagnapinna said:

Just beat this set tonight, it's wonderful. I've played very few maps of MAP03's weight class before so beating it felt like a real accomplishment. It was quite the long and stressful experience for me though, just because I'm not really into the Sunder-y genre of mapping, so even though it's certainly the most impressive of the 3 I doubt I'll revisit it.

I think my favourite has got to be MAP02. It's got a funky layout and holds a lot of fights that really draw out the "combat puzzle" elements the best, and they lead to a lot of really tense moments when they tighten up on space and Archvile sightlines, but the map as a whole doesn't feel like a stressful ordeal. I think it's the amount of recovery items you placed, I never felt like I was going to the next fight with completely unreasonable health and ammo so it all felt chunked up enough to feel doable. (alternatively, I might just be better at doom than I think.) It's got the perfect midi too, it keeps you driven forward, on edge, and in awe of the sheer foreignness of this place all at the same time. (I was wondering if you could link where you found it uploaded/avaliable for download?) Overall I'm coming out of this wanting to test myself on more of this style of map, so thanks for that!

Thanks a lot!  I'm glad I could get you out of your comfort zone a bit.

I really appreciate the Comments on map02. Overall map layout is something I struggle with so it started to click with me more on this map.  I did learn from this wad I like making more compact encounters a little more than big ones. 

When picking music i decided to revist wads i take good inspiration from. The track for map02 I found again from Fractured World's map03.  

I completely understand the thought of long maps are hard to revisit.  Making map03 makes me not want to make a map of that size anytime soon cuz it was draining towards the end.  I thought about not having a big finale type area but I didn't want to make it a separate map04 for the fight idea.  

I have some small changes I want to implement and a hopefully final update soon.

gonna try this with BR high noon drifter. I'll tell you how that goes when i get there. looks super neat though. 

holy sisyphean effort!

i really need to get better at doom...

i died within 5 seconds of picking up the SSG lmao

Alright I've just completed map03 [hmp]!

Holy guacamole this was such a pleasant surprise! By far the best wad I've played this year so far, and definitely one of the finest I've played ever.

I admit that from the screenshots alone, this struck me as somewhat unremarkable. "Oh, another Sunder type wad that looks like a talent show stage." But since I was seeing your progress for a while I decided to give it a go.

It took a while to set in. Since I played Map01 while I was on a Discord call I was ambivalent toward it and didn't pay much attention, though looking back I definitely am eager to revisit it. I played through Map02 on my own, and that's when the atmosphere began to absorb me. One could say it Embraced me (･ω<)☆

By the end of map02 I was already fully invested. I can't remember the last time I was so immersed in a Doom map. A memorable moment is when I saw a wall where one of the wood panels was missing, revealing piping that was leaking trademark Eviternity teal slime (possibly Baja Blast), and it grounded me in the map in such an interesting way - it felt like every wall was hiding a network of pipes, and it felt like I could almost hear them. And then there's map03. It was a two day effort to finish at a leisurely pace, and by golly couldn't have picked a better map to finish on my birthday lol. If map 02 was immersive, map03 was jaw-dropping. It's been a long time since playing Doom inspired this much awe. Overall an absolute masterpiece of atmosphere, and the combat is banging too, it was fun, challenging and consistent!

Peak/10

2 hours ago, 97th Century Fox said:

Alright I've just completed map03 [hmp]!

Holy guacamole this was such a pleasant surprise! By far the best wad I've played this year so far, and definitely one of the finest I've played ever.

I admit that from the screenshots alone, this struck me as somewhat unremarkable. "Oh, another Sunder type wad that looks like a talent show stage." But since I was seeing your progress for a while I decided to give it a go.

It took a while to set in. Since I played Map01 while I was on a Discord call I was ambivalent toward it and didn't pay much attention, though looking back I definitely am eager to revisit it. I played through Map02 on my own, and that's when the atmosphere began to absorb me. One could say it Embraced me (･ω<)☆

By the end of map02 I was already fully invested. I can't remember the last time I was so immersed in a Doom map. A memorable moment is when I saw a wall where one of the wood panels was missing, revealing piping that was leaking trademark Eviternity teal slime (possibly Baja Blast), and it grounded me in the map in such an interesting way - it felt like every wall was hiding a network of pipes, and it felt like I could almost hear them. And then there's map03. It was a two day effort to finish at a leisurely pace, and by golly couldn't have picked a better map to finish on my birthday lol. If map 02 was immersive, map03 was jaw-dropping. It's been a long time since playing Doom inspired this much awe. Overall an absolute masterpiece of atmosphere, and the combat is banging too, it was fun, challenging and consistent!

Peak/10

Wow thanks a lot!  I'll be honest I did have the thought back of my mind like, "is this too derivitive?' 

I'm glad that it seems like it's not.  I do focus on atmosphere a lot, it's hard for me to pick music as I need it to be perfect lol.  

Just going to pop in and say... the first two maps are done, but map 03 is kicking my ass. Well played hahaha

Isolated respite, found within monolithic void structures, draped in greenery. A beautiful aesthetic mix for a lovely trio of maps. Wonderful job.

embraced-maribo.zip - V2, v0.27.5