FbMelatonin

FbMelatonin

The map itself is fairly simple, and executed with style, at the ground level are four chambers with powerups and lifts to transporters that take you up to the torroidal catwalk surrounding a large four pronged spire. The catwalk is at a funny angle and looks really cool when you are playing. You can drop from the catwalk onto a cross shaped platform with a keg of health in the middle.

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Title : FbMelatonin

Version : 2.0

Release Date : March 03, 2000

Fixes : Replaced 90% of the textures, added light

Filename : DM-FbMelatonin.unr

Author : Andrew "Hobeaux" Penick

Email Address : [email protected]

Web Page : http://frogblast.unrealengine.com

Description : Conversion of a map that appeared in Bungie

Software's game original Marathon.

Where to get

this map : http://frogblast.unrealengine.com,

http://www.planetunreal.com/nalicity

Other levels by author : Unreal:

DMRoute66, DMMelatonin, KOTHMelatonin,

DMDuality

UT:

DM-FbRoute66 (more on the way)

Special thanks : Everyone that put up with me.

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--- Play Information ---

Game : Unreal Tournament 4.00+

Level Name : FbMelatonin

Single Player : no

Cooperative : no

Deathmatch : yes

Difficulty Settings : no

New Sounds : yes

New Graphics : no

NewUnrealScript : no

External DLLs : no

Known bugs : Careful going up the Jump Shaft

--- Construction ---

Editor(s) used : UnrealEd 4.05b

Construction Time : You don't want to know**

Installation

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DM-FbMelatonin.unr : Maps directory

Author's Notes

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This map appeared as part of the game Marathon by Bungie Software. There

are three flavors of this map to date: Unreal, KOTH Unreal (KOTH is a special

new King of the Hill where players must be in a certain location on the map,

the "hill," for a duration of time in order to win. since everyone is trying

to get on the hill, it's usally good, chaotic fun) and Unreal Tournament. If

we can convince GorGor to finish the UT Mod for KOTH, there will be yet another

iteration of Melatonin :) There is a remote possibility that I may do a

Melatonin][ with more levels, more kickers... but don't hold your breath :)

--- Frogblast: The Ventcore Project ---

Marathon multiplayer maps almost always made for excellent gameplay and,

in some cases, have been better than today's "modern" arenas. Those of us

on the Frogblast team endeavor to revive much of the spirit and excitement

of Marathon Multiplayer gaming but in a truly modern engine. We hope that

you enjoy these old conversions much as we do.

--- What Is "Frogblast The Ventcore"? ---

Bungie Software's original Marathon game their were human civilians who

basically ran around and got in the way. However as part of the plot of the

game some of the civilians were captured by the aliens and 'assimilated'.

that is, they were converted into kamikazes who would run at you and explode

when they got close. By the time of Marathon II: Durandal these assimilated

humans could actually speak a few phrases such as, "Don't shoot!", "I'm out

of ammo!", "I love you man!", and the immortal "Frogblast the ventcore!"

**If you really want to know the amount of effort invested in this map**

. built the much of the original map during a lunch break as a tutorial

for a coworker. progress on the map stopped for a year.

. took on the map project again, and completed it about a year ago

. revisited the map in November/December 1999 and decided to port it to

Unreal Tournament. In so doing, scaled most of the map 150% larger to make

for better gameplay (the lights above the arena were originally positioned

on the walls, so you can tell how much smaller the arena was)

. began to re-path the map and discovered something: the paths from the ledges

to the bottom of the arena wouldn't connect. since that distance was outside

of the normal scope of what a player could fall without damage, the paths

"knew" that they shouldn't connect (even when placed next to each other)

. to fix the problem, attempted many iterations of using LiftExits/LiftCenters

to cause the bots to jump around...to varying degress of unsuccess.

- first attempt was an unbridled success, sort of. i had failed to assign

the tags to the liftexits/centers and so they all connected to one-another

across the map. made for spagetti-paths and was terribly inefficient, but

the bots would jump just about anywhere. that part was cool.

- tags put into the liftexits/centers which cleaned up the paths considerably.

bots would get stuck running in place at the bottom.

- attempted to use on-way directional pathing to recitify the problem without

success. (many times)

- moved the lift centers to the top of the ledges. didn't fix it.

- moved the lift centers to the bottom of the arena. didn't fix it.

- tried using separate liftcenters for each liftexit pair. didn't fix it.

- researched the Epic maps over and over but couldn't seem to stop it. so i

conceded that it was a problem i wouldn't fix.

- added a playerstart to the bottom of each "well" in the arena. the bots

no longer run in place at the bottom of the Jump. Instead they completely

abandoned the pathing, and run smack into the wall and ran in-place there

in a vail attempt to get to the top LiftExit on the ledge. Removing the

playerstart returned them to their normal errant behaviour

. after fighting with the pathing for a *month* (bit tenacious) i decided to

break the rules. after all, following epics examples was doing me no good.

moved the lift exits that were at the bottom of the "wells" up into the air,

well out of reach from normal running. PROBLEM SOLVED. the bots now jump from

the top liftexit, move through the liftcenter, and then fall through the

liftexit at the bottom and then land on a new pathnode. they're happy. i'm happy.

. added the "secret" area and decided to use a kicker (jump pad) to get to the

top ledge. noticed that on the way up, a player would drag against the wall

of the shaft and could actually be pushed back into the direction that he

came from (down). reduced number of sides of shaft from 16 to 8. seem to clear

most of it up.

. submitted the map to Make Something Unreal Contest and lost by a wide margin.

noticed also, that the ReadMe had the wrong Map Name in it. It's Melatonin,

not ThePen (by UTCP. had used a readme of theirs and forgot to change one,

critical line. whoops)

. received feedback from CyberA that the texturing sucked and he hated how the

map looked like it belonged on old-style non-true-3D games a la, doom, marathon

(which this is based on) well, he had a point: I hated the textures too.

. retextured the map. added more light to the arena. added lights to the elevators

so you could see them for crying out loud. (also, learned that my machine at

home was unreasably bright which is why the lighting never bothered me before)

. spent a couple of weeks trying to fix the Kicker Problem.

- Noticed that players seem to stop at the points where the lights fixtures

were located. coincidence? removed the light fixtures. didn't fix it.

- decided that maybe the lights were somehow causing it. removed the spotlights.

didn't fix it.

- noticed that various ZoneInfo icons were at about the same level as where

players would encounter the "invisible barriers." moved them. didn't fix it.

- reconsructed the shaft so that it was made up of sections instead of one

long tube. made things worse!

- reduced the number of sides from 8 to 4. boring. ugly. fixed it for a while,

then i encountered the "stopping" again. *sigh*

- screw it. made it 8. separate sections. let the player beware.

. changed the secret area to have less complex architecture. more of a hack really.

. sat down and observed what the heck was going on with the shaft/kicker problem.

determined that as players drag against the walls of the shaft they are building

up friction until a threshold is reached. when that happens, the engine assumes

that the player has hit a wall and bounces back the other way (down) and can

receive significant damage at the bottom. sent people ICQs about it, and they

confirmed that it was *possible*

. changed physics of the shaft to Flying and set the ground friction to 0.

didn't work either.

. added an invisiblecollisionhull to the area of the shaft where players drag

against. this effectivly reduced the amount of "friction" that they can build

up and, 9 times out of 10, will make it to the top without problems. considered

the problem solved.

. made a new screenshot for the level.

considered the map done.

wrote the above history.

Copyright / Permissions

-----------------------

This level is copyrighted by Andrew Penick. Level based on one created

by Bungie Software for Marathon.

Authors may not NOT use this level as a base to build additional levels.

You are NOT allowed to commercially exploit this level, i.e. put it on a CD

or any other electronic medium that is sold for money without my explicit

permission!

You MAY distribute this level through any electronic network (Internet,

FIDO, local BBS etc.), provided you include this file and leave the archive

intact.

----------------------

UNREAL (c)1998 Epic Megagames, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed by

GT Interactive Software, Inc. under license. UNREAL and the UNREAL logo are

registered trademarks of Epic Megagames, Inc. All other trademarks and trade

names are properties of their respective owners.

MARATHON (c) Bungie Software Products Corporation. All rights reserved.