Syringe v1.1 - now on /idgames!

[Xaser]

Syringe - v1.1 - idgames derpload

 

What?
6+1 action-packed maps about reviving a dying universe using guns and large pointy things. Limit-removing.

 

Who?
Made by Pavera, Tarnsman, Marcaek, & Xaser, on-and-off over a period of about infinity years.

 

Why?
Why not?

 

Screenshots (click for bigguns):

 

Hey Ho we're on /idgames now:
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/syringe

 

Also available as a Hella Official(tm) addon to the Unity port; find it in the Mods download page thingy!

 

Happy Eventual Christmas, y'all!
 

Edited September 5, 2021 by Xaser : /idgameseses

[Jimmy]

VERY YES

[Altazimuth]

Oh hell yes. This is a great collection of levels that I found didn't outstay its welcome at all, but didn't leave me feeling like it was too short.

[esselfortium]

I love what I’ve played of this, great to see it finally released!

[xvertigox]

Played the first 3 maps and had a blast. The maps look great / evil as fuck.

[galileo31dos01]

I see three skyboxes so two at least are exclusive to boom or zdoom or...?? 

 

But also congrats!

[Breezeep]

Inject this shit into my veins

[Not Jabba]

I've been hearing about this through seedy back-channels for ages. Bring it on!

[Xaser]

Ye, I should probably clarify: PRBoom-Plus and company (basically, anything MBF-Compatible) will sport different skies for maps 1 through 5, but that's by no means required. That's the only difference between MBF-compat ports and not, so Crispy et.al are a perfectly fine way to play (at least nothing buggy with it came up during testing :P ).

 

Glad y'all are enjoying it thus far! Even though a couple of y'all have had sneak previews by now... :P

[Marcaek]

IT SERNG

[pavera]

Super props to Xaser and Marcaek for tying this thing together, champions among champions. So excited this project is finally seeing the light of day. Hope you all enjoy!

[elend]

Nice, that looks very good. I am downloading this and will eventually play it. (Playing Doom Zero now).

[Walter confetti]

Awesome!

[Bryan T]

I just ran through this. Very unique looking maps, especially the last one. I got lost more often than I'd prefer. I'll play it again later today now that I sorta know my way around them. I made the mistake of grabbing the megasphere before killing the cyberdemons...

 

I'm unsure of how to get the blue key on map04. I figured all the rest out though. https://youtu.be/O3Xxm__w1MQ

 

Edited December 25, 2019 by Bryan T

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Played this on UV, with pistol starts in GZDoom, and had a wonderful time. 

 

The maps are quite fluid, with fast paced and satisfying combat, and great layouts. The descending Imp circle jerk pit trap in map03 was a particularly memorable moment, as well as the general creativity of map06. Pistol starting map05 was quite enjoyable, being forced essentially to use the RL against pockets of low-tier swarms throughout the entire map was incredibly gratifying. I think map04 was the standout for me -- there was just something about the intricate layout, connectivity and progression that I really loved, culminating in the sudden SM in your face, and the Cybie finale. That said, the progression in all of the maps felt very polished and thought-out, in addition to the texture work. The custom palette added a really nice atmosphere to the maps as well, particularly the first two.

 

I wasn't a huge fan of the sudden changes in themes/textures/skies, in such a small map set. There was at least a nice transition between the end of map04 and the beginning of map05, but the abrupt change between 02 and 03 just felt inexplicable for me -- like I was jumping randomly from Thy Flesh Consumed to Plutonia, visually speaking. This is a very minor nitpick though, and the gameplay and polish more than made up for it.

 

Definitely recommended; had an awesome time. 

Edited December 25, 2019 by RonnieJamesDiner

[VanaheimRanger]

4 hours ago, Breezeep said:

Inject this shit into my veins

[fabian]

13 hours ago, Xaser said:

Ye, I should probably clarify: PRBoom-Plus and company (basically, anything MBF-Compatible) will sport different skies for maps 1 through 5, but that's by no means required. That's the only difference between MBF-compat ports and not, so Crispy et.al are a perfectly fine way to play (at least nothing buggy with it came up during testing :P ).

If you are referring to MBF sky transfers here, Crispy supports these as well. 

[pavera]

13 hours ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

Pistol starting map05 was quite enjoyable, being forced essentially to use the RL against pockets of low-tier swarms throughout the entire map was incredibly gratifying.

 

That was the intent! Glad to hear you liked it.

 

13 hours ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

I think map04 was the standout for me -- there was just something about the intricate layout, connectivity and progression that I really loved, culminating in the sudden SM in your face, and the Cybie finale.

 

Awesome. MAP04 was the first map that I made for this set, many years ago.

 

13 hours ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

I wasn't a huge fan of the sudden changes in themes/textures/skies, in such a small map set. There was at least a nice transition between the end of map04 and the beginning of map05, but the abrupt change between 02 and 03 just felt inexplicable for me -- like I was jumping randomly from Thy Flesh Consumed to Plutonia, visually speaking.

 

Haha yeah. This is a side effect of the nature of this project -- it being the remains of work started for another, much larger project that never quite got off the ground besides this handful of maps. The themes you see in Syringe reflect the intended themes of the original project, but unfortunately the transitions are a bit more abrupt than originally planned. Not for lack of trying though! There was quite a bit of effort to get these maps to tie together much better than they originally did. But since we only had a handful at the end of the day, we also kinda wanted each map to stand out uniquely on its own.

 

Anyways, glad you liked the set!

[tourniquet]

Read about this on Discord a couple of times but had no idea what to expect. This looks dope as hell, definitely the next pick on my Doom 'must play' list.

 

Edit:

 

Just finished Map02 on UV. Dunno if this is intentional or if one of both is flagged incorrect.

 

Map03 Imp Pit was just delicious. Not the biggest fan of the chaingunners inside those vine cubby's, kinda hard to see against the red background. Rather small issue but with enough rockets you could kinda cheese this trap via splash damage

 

Map04 Always been a sucker for pavera's maps, the layout is just finger-licking good. Ammo and health are surprisingly forgiving compared to previous maps, however this isn't an actual complaint. The ending transition is awesome, however the imps guarding the exit were more of a annoying holdup than an actual threat. Dunno I'd rather scrap them and just let the great scenery speak for itself.

Edited December 25, 2019 by tourniquet

[RonnieJamesDiner]

6 hours ago, Pavera said:

This is a side effect of the nature of this project -- it being the remains of work started for another, much larger project that never quite got off the ground besides this handful of maps. The themes you see in Syringe reflect the intended themes of the original project, but unfortunately the transitions are a bit more abrupt than originally planned.

 

That makes sense, and I probably should've just kept that in mind. It's a tease to think there could've been much more to this. Just out of curiosity, I noticed the episodes/themes were basically broken up into Hell, Brazil, and Moon, respectively. It made me really interested in what the "story" of the full release may have been? 

[pavera]

19 hours ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

It made me really interested in what the "story" of the full release may have been? 

 

To be honest, I don't think that we had thought quite that far ahead. Tarnsman came up with the three episode themes years ago when he was spitballing ideas for a much larger project hot off the heels of D2TWID. At the time I think he just wanted to kinda invert the typical map theme progression and have an excuse to have an E1 full of crazy hell maps. Tarns put together a texture resource and made the map that became 01 and got a start on the map that became 03. With the themes in mind I went to town and built one map per theme, excited to get started. From there the momentum kinda died as other projects were being worked on instead, and we basically sat on these maps for several years before deciding to partner with Xaser and Marcaek to get them polished up and packaged into this minisode.

[Caleb13]

So... the mapset expresses the authors' subconscious regrets they refused to do drugs and became addicted to Doom/mapping instead?

 

In any case, excellent work as usual.

[pavera]

Doom mapping is the ultimate high.

[Uni]

It was kinda like playing a sort of a Tango Speedmapping Session maps(or Abyssal Speedmapping Session), which is actually quite lovely. I miss those to be honest. I enjoyed the simplistic design that focuses on gameplay rather than detail although the maps looks great. It's been a while since I played something by the BTSX guys and it's always a treat. I don't have a particular favorite map, I liked all of them but MAP03 Archvile area was cool, same goes for the Imp ambush part. MAP05 gameplay was another standout.

 

@PaveraThanks for the information. I was intrigued about the "now-dead vanilla project" from the text file and it's a shame to hear about its fate but at least we got a couple of cool maps to play from it, so that's always awesome.

 

I was a little sad to see Alfonzo's name absent from the mappers list. I felt like a map from him would fit this little mapset quite well.

 

Glad to see that you guys are alive and well, thanks for sharing!

[SuperCupcakeTactics]

Just finished playing this and my experience was great for the most part. MAP03 was my favorite map of them all, and the aesthetics really helped with that for me which was then followed by MAP04 which I honestly didn't like that much. More thoughts below...

MAP03 Texture quikfix:

Spoiler

MAP04 infinite height blocker:

Spoiler

About MAP04 I got really lost in this map and couldn't find my way to where I needed to go next. My patience ran out wandering around so I resorted to breaking progression by pressing this switch below from the lava which I then had to idclip to escape:

Spoiler

I think Pavera got a little carried away with the deceptively complex navigation through height variation layouts you guys do here and could stand to put more effort in leading me through the map with subtle ques unless getting lost was supposed to be part of the map. Not the best designed layout and needless to say this kinda bummed my experience with the WAD. Appears pretty open but it turns out there's still only one specific way to progress further (don't forget to make your out-of-bounds monster closets hidden in the automap). 

I believe being teleported to run straight into the lava instead of this platform that raised kinda sums it up:

Spoiler

MAP05 was pretty okay, and is probably a lot more enjoyable pistol starting from what I've read since I've been playing continuously. I still got to enjoy the rocket fun though.

MAP06: Not a fan of being able to drop down here and die for no reason but to each their own I guess.

Spoiler

Good WAD I liked it a lot it was a chill time! I enjoyed the creative concept of the whole syringe deal wrapping up the supposed plot in the final maps.

Edited December 27, 2019 by SuperCupcakeTactics

[pavera]

Ah! Bummed you weren't into MAP04, but I suspected it wouldn't really please everyone. It's a bit of an obtuse one, and at the time I was drawing heavily from the Sandy pool of inspiration. In fact, really all of the maps I made from this were me coming down from mapping for D2TWID, so unfortunately they may possess many quirks that have since been ironed out of my mapping style. Glad you dug on MAP05 though -- I had the most fun making that one out of my three, and its fast sorta rocket punch gameplay has since become a staple of how I make maps to this day.

[baja blast rd.]

21 hours ago, Uni said:

It was kinda like playing a sort of a Tango Speedmapping Session maps(or Abyssal Speedmapping Session), which is actually quite lovely. I miss those to be honest. I enjoyed the simplistic design that focuses on gameplay rather than detail although the maps looks great.

In 01 and 06 especially, we're seeing the 'new-age vanilla' ethos where linedef count is low, and the shaping and architecture is stylish, and the textures are all perfectly curated and then chosen for their surfaces (and within scenes, contrast, color balance, 'feature' balance, management of visual interest, etc. etc. etc. is all pretty slick). And that isn't even to speak of the underlying concepts and loose narratives that define areas. So despite the low detail, the similarity to speedmap sessions feels superficial. Those maps certainly focus on aesthetics, and I'd go to bat for 01 and 06 looking better -- and by sound criteria, being more visually and artistically refined -- than countless maps with thousands upon thousands of sectors, showing that numerous roads converge on gorgeous design.

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by rdwpa

[Linguica]

There's a part of Map06 where you are descending down a windy dark cave into a mysterious underground room that reminds me a lot of a similar section in my CC2 Map28 for some reason.

[gaspe]

Pack of prb+ fdas: syringe_gaspe_fdas.zip

 

Well I got exactly what I could expect from the doominati mappers, and I had a rather good time with it. Not getting so much those reality-bending vibes, apart MAP01 and MAP06, it needed more Xaser. I think I spotted a couple of floating rockets in MAP02 . MAP03 was my favourite, I really liked the trees texture that added something unique to the classical Plutonia style, only map that killed me. I didn't have problem navigating MAP04 but to add my thoughts I think that this kind of maps with a strict texture theme and the lack of visual landmark in the layout can be harder to memorize, as everything blends together. It started to drag a bit near the end to me, I liked that surprise mastermind. MAP05 was fun and fast to blast through but it lacked substance and it's more of a short intermission to introduce the last map. MAP06 was very cool: crushers, tricks, spooky things. I was almost there at the end I guess D:

[JDR]

Enjoyed gameplay in Pavera's maps specifically, however i thought that some of those texture sets in map 2 and 4 could've benefit from some new grimy additions in line with map 1 and 6 for cohesion, but other than that pretty awesome wad, especially act 3 for it's narrative and amazing map 6 with lots of ambiance. I'd really like to play something else like this and i guess we've also had an awesome udtwid this year, but those creepy textures are awesome and have that sort of id vibe. Also maps in woods as cave walls are the future.
Thank you for this gift Mr. Doominati, i also relieved to know that it's not that new project that had been scrapped, but an old one, it's a very good one regardless.