Digs' map is incredible. Uploaded a video a while ago (forgive the gradual audio desync): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihQUlGXr_M4

Escher^3 (sm177_coce) is a horrible, tedious, repetitive hackfest. Very disappointing start, especially as Cocerello has done much better elsewhere.

Cubic Nightmares (sm177_shamblernaut) is a great deal more interesting, but just a bit too confusing for me. I think what's happening is that when I fall off the cube, I get teleported onto a different face of the same structure, which is a neat concept. But I've yet to put together a concept of when I land up where, and why, or how it all fits together. (That, and the chonic shortage of ammo, is very alienating.)

Stairways in the skies (sm177_doomer) is more fun -- a relatively straightforward blast set in a small hub and two outdoor stairways in the sky. Nothing too revolutionary, but good for a speedmap.

Agree wholeheartedly with Lane Powell -- digs's map is truly incredible. Amazing visuals, well-designed gameplay and mind-bending like only a digs map can be. It would fit right into the "Anomaly"-series (digs05 and digs06).

I can also see why some people in the Func_Msgboard release thread felt that it should have been released on its own, as it might be overlooked by many players as part of a speedmapping pack.

The other maps in this pack are standard speedmapping fare. Nothing wrong with that, but they're not nearly in the same league as digs's map.

Updated the description to do a bit more justice to sm177_digs.

And I agree completely with MikeTaylor's assessment of the other three maps. sm177_doomer is fun and good for a speedmap, whereas the other two come across as not-quite-successful experiments.

1/5 for sm177_coce. Sorry, Cocerello. It's not bad visually -- I do like the starkly contrasting texturing -- but it's just unplayable. Kind of a pity, too, that this map requires Quoth, as it really does not seem to add anything and makes playing the map pack needlessly complicated.

1,5/5 for sm177_shamblernaut. Nifty concept with lots of potential, but doesn't quite work (yet).

3/5 for sm177_doomer (considering it's a speedmap).

And of course 5/5 for sm177_digs (regardless of what kind of map it is).

Unsurprisingly, I concur completely with Lane Powell and Icant regarding Break Your Break (sm177_digs) which is a delight to play and deeply disorienting. great stuff.

Meanwhile, Shamblernaut's map lives on in my mind. I hope he returns to this concept, as it is rich in potential. (Or, if not, I hope someone else makes a map that works this way.)

Do have a look at digs_4hour too. It's no sm177_digs, but it's surprisingly good.

• Digs: It's a good realization of the theme, with good and well put ideas, which makes the player think and explore. All over it felt very good, but about some enemies' teleporting, I couldn't get to like them, like the shalrath after the shambler and some of the ambushes too close to the player. On the other part, i found myself grinning at some parts, like the message about not all the doors open, the trick with the hell_knights at the beginning, and some other details added.

• Dooomer: straightforward map, i like it, the setpieces used, the button shooting part, the secret, the shambler fights, the general idea of two areas joint where you can choose freely which one go to and go back freely too,... but i cannot see the Escher theme on it (i suppose a picture was used for reference that i don't know about). Could get some more intense combats, as it is it is mainly a corridor with enemies waiting ahead, reminds me of the grunt's part of the one he submitted for sm173.

• Shamblernaut: Quite promising map. It is a direct interpretation of the theme, and well executed. At first looked badly done as i couldn't discern the trick, but after getting the hang of it, and realizing that it was all based on the same trick as sm159_negke, it made sense and looked way better in my eyes. It takes a bit realize how it works, as i found it by accident after getting teleported thrice and dying at the fiend. I want to see this idea explored further.

• My map: Feel free to tone my map down in your ratings if you want: it was an 1 hour speedmap, to challenge myself on how quick i could have a map done. Even with that i found myself adding skill support and some experiments, so i failed on that objective.

  • Answering Icantthinkofanickname: Quoth does add things in the map: as i discovered after releasing, playing the map without Quoth changes it a lot in unexpected ways: is WAY harder and very unfair at the beginning, as Ionous showed, and boring and stupidly straightforward on the rest, plus several gameplay tricks i used won't work (more or less random weapons (LG, PG and DBS) for example) and the key is invisible (bug) but can be taken. https://www.twitch.tv/ionous

Even i die most of the times on ID skill 1, so I DON'T recommend playing it on QUOTH skill 2-3 (untested on purpose for playing by crazy people (if anyone dare to play on this setting i recommend raise the brightness to the max to make it easier)) and ID skill 1.

Due to the parts i used from Quoth it became quite weird in what skills are harder than which. From easier to harder: - Quoth skill 0 - ID skill 2-3 - ID skill 0 - Quoth skill 1 ... and way farther ... - Quoth skill 2-3 with max brightness - ID skill 1 - Quoth skill 2-3

Delighted to see more new maps

Speedmapping Pack 177 on The Quake Grave

Overall this pack is very good and houses a lot of good ideas!

As everyone has already stated, digs map is amazing! I love the bridges and trees on the side of the wall, and then using said bridges handrails as a platform to other areas, such a cool idea. Great idea and execution all around with this one.

Cocerello: I assume this was sort of meant to be a replayable, short, arena style map with randomly spawned weapons? I couldn't do anything on skill 1 with all of the dogs coming after me, but once I bumped it down to skill 0, it was manageable. For a 1 hour map, this is pretty cool.

Doomer: I liked this one! The stairs in the 2nd area that loop around and all over are very cool and very inspired by Escher. Fun little map!

Shamblernaut: I think this was a cool attempt at something different. I would've almost rather it had been an empty map with no monsters where it was more about solving the puzzle of the map itself, as I found the monsters to be a bit annoying while I navigated this weird shape. All in all, a very interesting and unique map!

Dig's map...wow...Feel a bit sick tho

Dig's map truly shined in this. I like the idea of Shamblernauts map, it was more disorienting to me than Dig's map honestly. Doomer's had some nice double-barrel shotgun action going. Cocerello's map just was fked, unplayable.

All of them, besides Cocerello's, played on NM and really was smth worthile, considering these are speedmaps.

I'm giving this 4/5 for digs' map only. The others deserve 2/5 at best.

cool, the water part at the end was a challange with nightmare.

dig's map was fun as hell