Great fun; weird and bloody and good to play with plenty of atmosphere.

this is all i wanted for the holidays!

I'm sorry, but I legitimately hated it.

Thanks for the early Christmas present, Tronyn!

Fantastic, beautiful work and (obviously) very original gameplay.

Quite tricky, especially initially. Somewhat less so once you get the hang of it, but still, this is a map that can give you muscle cramps. It's worth it, though, and I recommend noclipping through once you finish, just to admire the scenery.

It took me several tries and many saves to get through this, and oddly, once I encountered a shambler -- but only once. Was I supposed to?

Right, there's only one Shambler in the first map, not even one on easy. There are a few more in the second map nyar2.bsp (which is in the same BSP2 format as "Something Wicked" and thus requires RMQEngine, DarkPlaces or FTEQW, whereas the first map nyar.bsp should be playable in any engine - tested in Fitz which seems the most popular choice around here.

Thanks for the response, Tronyn. What I meant is I only saw the Shambler during one playthrough -- it didn't appear the other times, for some strange reason, even though I seemed to do the same things each time, so its appearance should have been triggered. I played in DarkPlaces, just like I did "Something Wicked".

Then again, maybe I'm just ditsy -- I didn't even notice there's a second map (I assumed there was just one and quit after completing it). Well, even more to look forward to later!

Wow, I though the first map was hard – that second map is brutal (I had to stick to skill 0, and doubt I'll ever get through it on anything higher). It looks spectacular, though, and I like how it continues the vertical ascent, and manages – despite initial appearances – to be more than just an arena. I thought the ending was a bit sudden; I would have liked a moment more to catch my breath and take in my surroundings after that last kill.

Overall it's great how the lower gravity not only makes unconventional vertical progression possible, but also dramatically changes combat dynamics: certain weapons need to be aimed differently, some enemies become easier and others harder, and you need to use a different set of evasive manoeuvres.

Personally I found the map pack frustrating and exhausting at times (no doubt due to lack of skill on my part), but certainly very worthwhile.

(PS: I meant "Christmas" in the entirely secular, any-reason-to-receive-presents sense. No religious implications whatsoever. I should have said "Quakemas", damn it.)

Enjoyed it.

i liked both maps alot. the first map me wonder how hard ziggurat vertigo may be with 'marksmen' ogres! it is nice to see maps with different gravity. that's one thing i havent seen much of. the second map was more difficult for me.

with all the invaluable, exceptional mappers that contribute to quake, yours tronyn, by far, are the most difficult! keep doing what you do.

Video with commentary

Tronyn has made my Christmas for the second year in a row. Dare I hope for a hat-trick?

Two huge maps but very fast-paced due to the abundance of zombies and relatively few big tough monsters. I enjoyed the narrow vertical feel of the first one and the second was classic Tronyn excess, perhaps his craziest design yet. Also good to see the mummy making an appearance, although the guardian felt a little out of place on the first map and a few more might have been welcome on the second.

Very nice video, Daz. I especially like your opening shot as you noclip through the first map.

Pity you got so frustrated in the second map (I actually liked the trickiness of it, as that is what made it more than just an arena. The first map is the stronger of the two, though, in my opinion).

..looks half a mess of a map, or that was your intention Tronyn ? sure it's original but not very eye-gorgeous

Great maps! Only real problem was the trap at the silver key, which didn't reset in coop. We solved it rocketjumping over the silver door.

Thanks

A nice experiment, a bit frustrating

Maybe it would be better with (bloody) jump-pads instead of insanely low gravity

Yuck. Why did I play this?

I'm sorry, that wasn't so nice. Ahem.

Theme: I don't like it. Enemies: They're okay. Special features: Low gravity is fun, gore launchers were awful yuck. Design: Well made, just don't like the theme.

Sorry, just not much fun. I don't particularly like crawling through a pile of bloodgibs. 2/5

Lol! Thanks for the comments Qmaster. You are the first person to complain about the theme, which Daz called "really disgusting" on his video, rather than the experimental gameplay.

the experiment looks successful for the most part to me. "kill a shitton of monsters to progress" trick is probably a little bit over-abused in the second map, but it's not too bad since all the key creatures are easy enough to find. views are excellent and lovecraftian atmosphere is really strong.

A little too experimental for my taste.

Damn it, you scared the crap out of me at the very start with those Spawns, damn things are just too creepy. The first map is very good, albeit a tad frustrating due to the low gravity business, the atmosphere is quite suitable for Quake with all the blood and guts flying around; good use of fog too. I do have against it the use of the Drake weapons, I just don't like some of them, specially the chainsaw. The 2nd map looks great too but I couldn't play it for long due to some terrible slowdows on my computer. Tested under QuakeSpasm and DarkPlaces, it doesn't work with FitzQuake or older RMQEngine versions.

Low-G? Awesome! I'm a huge fan of Ziggurat Vertigo and I've always regretted that id didn't use this feature more. Plus, the screenshot reminds me of the insane level design in American McGee's Alice. I absolutely have to try these maps right now! Judging by the comments, my only concern would be a possible overabundance of grinding but oh well...

Dammit, Tronyn, spawns are not fun. They gave never been fun. They will never be fun.

I can't believe I forgot to rate this! Done. Hands down my favorite Tronyn map(s) to date (haven't played them all yet, though). Love the low-G and surreal design. Combat is very tough, expect to die a lot. I managed to pull it off in skill 2 but it took me many tries and I had to abuse f6.

"This is what passes for an "experimental" Tronyn map, so some may find the gameplay frustrating."

Really.

I was close to giving up quite a few times, but maybe playing this right after A Roman Wilderness of Pain in Nightmare mode made me a bit tougher -- or obstinate. Not without reason though: I hate the low gravity mode which makes me an easy target for those damn droles and zombies; I gave up counting the latter and I only had that stupid wand to shoot them; and when you finally get a grenade launcher, it's the weird, unreliable version. I also wanted to quit when getting the silver key in the second map unleashed an overlord and its pals, but then I had missed the amulet (see, Tronyn can be a nice person sometimes :)).

Things were back to normal in the second map. With respect to the gravity, and also with respect to Tronyn's usual sadism with hordes of the creatures you hate most, that is.

Three problems I still have with the second map:

* I don't know whether it's supposed to be a glitch or a standard feature of Nightmare mode, but the scrags' rays went through the walls. So I had nowhere to hide while dancing around on a ledge trying to stay alive, which was tough.
* actually, imps were also able to go through walls in some places. So much for looking for a safe hiding spot.
* the last zombie I had to kill to unlock the entrance to the silver key, which must be the first or second one you meet chronologically, was very hard to kill. I had to shoot it quite a few times, and many of the shots actually went right through it, thereby wasting a lot of precious ammo. 

All in all I ended up enjoying myself, because in the end the feeling of making even some slight progress in that kind of setting is rewarding, but there were too many frustrating moments. I might play the second map again some day, but I don't think I'll ever give the first one another try.

Hm, Markdown parsing does not behave as I expected:

I was close to giving up quite a few times, but maybe playing this right after A Roman Wilderness of Pain in Nightmare mode made me a bit tougher -- or obstinate. Not without reason though: I hate the low gravity mode which makes me an easy target for those damn droles and zombies; I gave up counting the latter and I only had that stupid wand to shoot them; and when you finally get a grenade launcher, it's the weird, unreliable version. I also wanted to quit when getting the silver key in the second map unleashed an overlord and its pals, but then I had missed the amulet (see, Tronyn can be a nice person sometimes :)).

Things were back to normal in the second map. With respect to the gravity, and also with respect to Tronyn's usual sadism with hordes of the creatures you hate most, that is.

Three problems I still have with the second map:

_ I don't know whether it's supposed to be a glitch or a standard feature of Nightmare mode, but the scrags' rays went through the walls. So I had nowhere to hide while dancing around on a ledge trying to stay alive, which was tough. _ actually, imps were also able to go through walls in some places. So much for looking for a safe hiding spot. _ the last zombie I had to kill to unlock the entrance to the silver key, which must be the first or second one you meet chronologically, was very hard to kill. I had to shoot it quite a few times, and many of the shots actually went right through it, thereby wasting a lot of precious ammo.

Okay, that was awesome!

Built Tronyn tough. :D

Well, this may be Tronyn's best offer yet. Incredible atmosphere and gameplay. Taxing but balanced. Plenty of secrets and great exploitation of game mechanics. 5.

As game play wise, completed on skill 3. But its the most crappy quake map ever,low gravity crap, and zombies that can take the eye out of a needle from miles away with there throwing,so lets stand on a ledge and zombies pounding the crap out of you from very far away places,half the time you cant even see them.Players wise utter crap.

Have you considered that the levels you can't play on nightmare are not the problem?

The penultimate fight on nyar2 is a doozy and a half, hoo boy. Brilliantly realized maps visually, but the gameplay won't be for everyone.

Just completed nyar2 in Nightmare again today. It was more fun than my first experience but I think these two maps will remain among my least favourite releases by Tronyn anyway. They feel far less polished and thought through than his previous masterpieces, and some other parts seem to have been rushed as well (what happens when you gather the rune, and also the final fight). Moreover, the rocket launcher combined with the low gravity mode allow you to skip large parts of the level with enhanced rocket jumps.

To be fair, he does consider this set to be experimental. I only hope his upcoming releases will be less so --- or at the very least, differently so.

Oh, and also, skill 4 (which is supposed to be Hell mode) does not work. As far as I know, the only way to play the maps in something_wicked in Hell mode is to select it in wickedstart, but nyar and nyar2 are additional maps you cannot be taken to from those maps.

... on the other hand, once you finish Something Wicked in Hell mode, you are taken back to the original Quake start map and can play the original game in Hell mode :)

Well, here are two more of Tronyn's maps on my all-time favorites list. He's a real artist and has done a lot for Quake over the years.

Thank you, Tronyn, and here's hoping to see more from you in the future.

The first map is a worse version of Arcanum's start (which, once it gets past that, it turns into my favourite Tronyn release). It's like the author wondered how he could make that worse and decided low gravity platforming was the way to go. The platforms are small, I hit into a wall while dodging or just trying to jump to next platform, which in low grav turns you into a sitting duck. Sorry I suck?

The second map is average.