Elementalism, an ambitious new GZDoom mapset. Phase 1 out now!

[dmslr]

25 minutes ago, dragon flame said:

is the mod still in the works? 

Quote

Update posts:

23rd June 2018 - new Fire and Dark Episode screenshots

2nd September 2018 - new Dark and Air Episode screenshots

27th October 2018 - Introducing Clay as our model maker, plus new Dark, Water and Fire Episode screenshots

12th March 2019 - Introducing our amazing music composer team, plus new Fire and Water Episode screenshots

1st December 2019 - A sneak preview of our fully custom OST, plus new Water, Earth, Air and Fire episode screenshots

8th April 2020 - A new Hub and a new Hud, plus new Earth and Fire episode screenshots

6th October 2020 - Earth episode preview

I don't see any reason why would they cancel the project. Development of a wad can take years. Modders need to make a living too. Be patient.

Edited February 19, 2021 by dmslr

[Major Arlene]

It's still very much in progress. Here's a tweet about some cool stairs you guys will be seeing :D

 

 

[Steve D]

Oh, that is sweet!!!!!

[Bauul]

12 hours ago, dragon flame said:

is the mod still in the works? 

 

Yes, very much so. It's been on the back-burner for a few months while I focused on the Micro-Slaughter Community Project, but the next map is coming along nicely. I'll do a full update with a bunch of new screenshots in the coming weeks when that's finished.

 

Edit: And as proof, here are a couple of screenshots from this week! :-)

 

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by Bauul

[seed]

Reminds me of Hexen 2, which is not bad at all actually.

 

"Better and better." 👌

[Pixel Fiend]

Is it vanilla compatible?

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

just kidding

 

[Major Arlene]

6 hours ago, <<Rewind said:

Is it vanilla compatible?

 

 

 

 

  Hide contents

just kidding

 

did Bauul ever tell yall the story of the time I tried to test one of these maps in software mode

[TJG1289]

I've been seeing this thread pop up a few times while I was just a lurker on here, and now that I remembered I had an account, all I want to say is everything about this that I've seen looks absolutely amazing. Including those stairs. How am I excited about a set of stairs? idk, but I am.

[Kristian Nebula]

On 2/20/2021 at 6:54 AM, Bauul said:

 

Yes, very much so. It's been on the back-burner for a few months while I focused on the Micro-Slaughter Community Project, but the next map is coming along nicely. I'll do a full update with a bunch of new screenshots in the coming weeks when that's finished.

 

Edit: And as proof, here are a couple of screenshots from this week! :-)

 

 

 

Insanely beautiful! I couldn't have in my wildest dreams in 2001 imagine egypt themed stuff like this when considering to do an egyptian episode for Brotherhood of Ruin :D so amazing and looking forward to it!!!

[DSC]

There are regular updates and talk about the mod over at the Hellforge Discord server, if anyone reading this is interested.

[Murdoch]

On 2/20/2021 at 7:49 AM, Major Arlene said:

It's still very much in progress. Here's a tweet about some cool stairs you guys will be seeing :D

 

I loathe to use a repetitive meme but it is the only thing I can think of.

 

WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!?!

[Bauul]

Update: 25th April 2021 - Weapons, Options and more screenshots!

 

It's been a few years coming, but things are starting to come together for the Phase 1 release.  All the maps are either complete, or relatively near to being complete.  While the last few maps are being finished up, I've been focusing on the auxiliary features, like the new weapons and some mod-specific new options.

 

The Wand of Elements is Elementalism's new super-weapon, occupying slot 8.   Acquired permanently at the start of the mapset, it is your trusty companion through all 15 levels.  But you begin each map empty of ammunition, and the floating Elementium Crystals used to power it are often hidden in hard to reach areas or heavily defended.  So use it wisely!

 

Drawing its power from the elements around you, the wand changes its attack depending on the episode.

 

In the Earth episode, it fires a giant bouncing boulder that does huge single-target damage, and then explodes into smaller rocks doing minor AOE.  You can also pull off some sweet trick shots with it.

 

 

 

In the Water episode, its spread of high-velocity frozen projectiles makes it a top-tier long-range weapon, and the resulting frozen clouds keeps smaller enemies comfortably at bay.

 

 

 

And in the Fire episode, it belches forth a huge swathe of flame, coating everything in a short distance in highly damaging lingering napalm.

 

 

 

As well as the new weapons, the mapset will also feature a few Quality of Life improvements, all available to turn on and off at will in the new Elementalism Options Menu.

 

 

 

You can:

• Choose between the original, alternative or new Elementalism HUD all from the same options menu
• Choose how you start each map:
  • "Pistol-start" automatically starts each map with the basic pistol loadout
  • "Semi-continuous" lets you keep most of your inventory, but strips you of high-tier weapons and ammo.  So continuous players don't have to worry about unbalancing a map by being too OP from the previous level.
• Pick from a few small adjustments that just make life so much better
  • Lost Souls are spawned with 50 instead of 100 health, so they go down in a single shotgun blast (yay!)
  • The Eviternity pistol makes a return!  Perfect accuracy and 50% faster firing speed (yay!)
  • The basic shotgun's spread is drastically reduced, making it now one of the most effect mid-range weapons in the arsenal (yay!)

And all of these can be turned on or off at any point!

 

 

And some new screenshots...

 

It wouldn't be an Elementalism update without some new screenshots!  These are from the recently complete third map of the Water episode, the Roots of the Weeping Mountain, by myself.  It's centered around a fully-interactive spiral staircase that you can rotate to four positions to access different parts of the map.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to bringing more updates in the coming months.

 

^{And dare to say it, maybe even a release date...}

[MFG38]

OH BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yep, still hyped.

[dmslr]

Can't wait when it will be released I can afford a decent PC.

[Dragonfly]

That staircase will forever blow me away. It's a work of art, I tell you!

[Reisal]

Goodness sakes, that moving interactive staircase. Straight up UDMF pushes things to ungodly bounds here!

[terminator]

woah! that turning staircase... perhaps that turning staircase will forever be a turning point in the history of classic doom maps to start having such movable objects/platforms. the first known instance of such moving objects/platforms - the turning staircase, just like the legendary first [invisible staircase] in [doomsday of uac] (source:https://doom.fandom.com/wiki/Doomsday_of_UAC). heads up, doom wiki!

 

[edit:]

sorry, but i've been itching to say this regarding that turning staircase - "it is the legend" :D

(reference to the movie [dune]). tq.

Edited April 26, 2021 by saibog

[scalliano]

That staircase is an absolute game-changer.

[dmslr]

On 4/25/2021 at 10:24 PM, Bauul said:

The Wand of Elements

So, how is it handled by autoaim? What's the intended way to play the wad: with freelook or without?

[Bauul]

3 hours ago, dmslr said:

So, how is it handled by autoaim? What's the intended way to play the wad: with freelook or without?

 

Freelook will certainly make things easier, and is what I ultimately designed the mapset with in mind, but it is perfectly playable with autoaim. One of our testers uses keyboard only, and has successfully beaten all the finished maps on UV.

[Marlamir]

Duude, that's staircase is something unbelievable. It's crazy how far has Gzdoom come

[Remmirath]

 

 

 

Death, decay and mystery await you in the great lost city...

[Deadwing]

Very Unreal-ish, amazing work

[Bauul]

The screenshots Remmi posted above are from E4, the penultimate Earth map.  It's probably the biggest in the mapset for pure geometry size, and is one of the final trio of maps being worked on, alongside F1 and F5.

 

The Water episode, on the other hand, is complete! 

 

Like all the episodes in Elementalism, it features a fully 3D, persistent dynamic skybox that lets you see all the other maps from wherever you are in the episode.  It moves realistically as you move, and ultimately it's hard to spot the gap between the level and skybox.  Here's a sneak peak of the skybox at the start of W4 (I posted this on DW a couple of weeks back, just popping it here too for posterity):

 

 

(This is actually a little out of date - the current map has slightly less flat lighting, and smoother parallax camera motion).

 

All in all, we are slowly but surely getting ready for release.  There will be an extensive internal testing period as these maps have lots of scripting, which means the opportunities for sequence breaks and soft-locks increase exponentially. 

 

However, presuming no last-minute hiccups, we are definitely in the final stretch of development!

 

In celebration, @Dragonfly kindly whipped up a sneak teaser-trailer of some of the locations which can be found in Phase 1.  Enjoy!

 

[TJG1289]

This may be a dumb question idk, but since this is being released in phases, will I be able to keep and use my save file when phase 2 comes out, or will I have to start over? Or are the phases distinct WADs?

[Bauul]

13 minutes ago, TJG1289 said:

This may be a dumb question idk, but since this is being released in phases, will I be able to keep and use my save file when phase 2 comes out, or will I have to start over? Or are the phases distinct WADs?

 

They will be distinct wads.  I haven't fully worked out how I'm going to approach Phase 2 yet - it could well be that rather than fully finishing episodes 4-6 and then doing a second major release (which honestly could be many years from now), I do a rolling Beta release where individual maps get added piecemeal over time (basically the Sunder approach).  It's all up in the air though currently.

 

Essentially I am treating Phase 1 as a fully standalone, feature-complete release.  Phase 2 realistically won't be completed this side of 2030.

Edited June 22, 2021 by Bauul

[Scuba Steve]

Jesus...

[roadworx]

jfc this looks like it could be an older AAA title, if it weren't for doom's sprites i would've thought these were just screenshots of some game from the early 2000s

 

how tf do you people do this stuff

Edited June 23, 2021 by roadworx

[jazzmaster9]

Super Hyped for this. Been following this project since the first screenshots were revealed, and they Look Gorgeous.

[Dreemurr Deceevurr]

Holy fucking shit!!!!!!