Your Name:
	Your E-Mail Address:
	Subject:
	Message: : You've finally penetrated to the very heart of Michael's chariot, and reached : some sort of critical nerve center. As far as I can tell, the idea behind : this level is that the chariot, all the Metalloids, and Michael, are all : part of the same system and are all connected to each other. It should be : possible to disrupt all of them at once by destroying this critical nerve : center. Of course, Michael is sending in everything he has to stop you. : This level is a boss fight in every sense of the word- Michael's giant, : motionless head (we're nowhere near reality as we know it) watches as you : race around trying to solve some puzzle while tons of enemies pound on : you. Your objective is to hit a number of switches in the arena, some at : ground level, some higher up, requiring you to ride platforms up to them. : These switches, however, can only be toggled by the second trigger of the : Reaver Omega Cannon as far as I know. Each switch shuts down one of the : reactors or whatever that is feeding Michael with energy. Once all the : switches are hit (try to keep track of which switches you've hit already, : because it's definitely possible to un-hit them again and get confused), a : final switch in the center opens; shooting it will begin Michael's and the : chariot's destruction, and open a door in the north of the arena for you : to escape. As you run down this hallway, the place fills with flames : behind you- a very nice effect done with tiny invisible monsters who are : shooting extremely inaccurate projectiles at you. Run down the very long : corridor to freedom. : The final screen describes your escape from Michael's chariot, your spirit : return to its anchor in reality- and your final mastery of powers at least : equivalent to the dead brothers. The PX-39 crisis is over, at the cost of : the planet and every human on it. As we see the player wearing an : incredibly long red cape straight out of Todd McFarlane's Spawn , he : returns to his original self, only now he's one of the more powerful : players in the cosmic game. And, of course, the question raised earlier of : whether or not the player is just a bloodthirsty killer has not been : answered ;) : The "secret room" on the level is part of the 4 switch mechanism- : it contains the "AND gate" that reveals the final switch when : all 4 of the arena switches have been pressed. I have no idea if it's : possible to open the door to it- I assume the trick Steve and John keep : hinting at is to use the Reaver Rocket Glove to push through the : relatively thin wall separating it from the arena? In here is a large : supply of weapons (I suspect it's the complete set weapons that provide : the Reaver powers), as well as 2 invisiblity and 1 invincibility powerups, : and a chance to charge up. It's also possible to steal a little health : here and there by using the "alternate mode" of the Reaver : Fusion Mace that John mentioned- it will heal you if you run into a wall : while firing, so you can just run circles around the arena slamming into : walls and pillars and coming away with a bit more health each time. : There are 2 levels left in the scenario that got skipped earlier because I : didn't know how to get to them. WE BE SLACKERS is a copy of what I can : only assume is Ian's dorm room circa RED development, along with the : scenario's credit terminal. Up from the Depths... 30 stories high... makes : the player literally Godzilla, taking advantage of a shrunken texture set : and tiny enemies to let you rampage through a city. Check out the map : writing for props to various Bungie community personalities as well as a : number of names I don't recognize. : So, what did we learn from this series? :) Some rules, conventions, and : standard features in Marathon scenarios are more flexible than they : appear, and breaking them can allow for very interesting situations. : Conversely, some conventions both the players and map authors depend on to : allow the player to jump into a new scenario without having to be : instructed on how to play- and breaking these , while allowing for some : nice tricks, also causes confusion and frustration that may not be worth : the effect. Testing your scenario, and playing it through yourself, is of : vital importance, because sometimes your testers will not know what they : are missing. Also, infinitely regenerating monsters should be used with : great care, if at all. Did I miss anything? :) : : Now that we've seen that the scenario has some real bugs in it, and now that : the original creator has given his approval, RED 1.1 is starting to look : like a better and better idea. However, among all the discussion, we : should keep one thing in mind: This is just RED 1.1. It's not RED II or : even RED 2.0. The original purpose of this project, back when people first : started kicking it around, was to fix critical bugs in the game and : ameliorate some of the unnecessarily frustrating aspects that drove people : away from the scenario when it was first released. Nothing more. (This : should also be weighed against the fact that, really, there are very, very : few people who would be interested in RED 1.1 and yet have not played RED : 1.0...) : That said, here's the list of changes I would make: : Too tired to kill: : : Add a briefing to the first terminal, in the room where you wake up, : instructing you to talk to Ian in the hangar. This would make it : explicitly clear that you have to tab characters in the game now, as well : as showing that that panel is in fact a terminal, something that's done : inconsistently for the first few levels. : Make the door to Hydroponics take less time to open (seriously, it's just : annoying right now). : Add a briefing to the two Hydroponics terminals, again to make the player : realize there are terminals there for the revisit later. : : Noises in the dark: : : Prevent the door to the main infected area from killing the player. : Make the 1x recharger in the southern area more obvious. : Remove any "sticky" areas in the catacombs to the east. : : Needs more duct tape: : : Remove infinitely regenerating Beasts; the Beetles are bad enough. : Remove switch in fake door out of first room. : Pattern buffer, terminal, and health charger in reactor control room would : always be active. To balance this, the chip quest would be required to : complete the level- inserting it would open the exit teleporter. : : Why did it stop? : : Prevent the player from cheating by tabbing the switch through the wall : without going through the underground passage. : Add a 1x health canister immediately after the elevator, possibly in the : ladder room. : Make the switch that raises half the elevator shaft raise the entire : elevator shaft, to fix the suicide trap that would occur if you fell back : into the beginning of the level. : Move the level exit teleporter from directly in front of the pattern buffer : to an alcove off to the side, which can be designed to be more obviously a : teleporter. Also, re-jigger the Beetle ambush so it is possible to reach : the PB (but not the health) without getting attacked. : : G3 Sunbathing at 300Mhz: : : Add an oxygen charger to the airlock leading to the bridge. Delete errant : canister on top of level. : Fix trick recharger, either by turning it into an oxygen charger or making : it properly display the 1x armor texture. : : Nothing's too big to Nuke: : : Delete or prevent access to debugging switch room. : : Floating in Agony: : : Retarget terminal teleporter to put the player somewhere with a proper view : of the room and its contents, instead of facing a wall. : : Medatron of the Void: : : Add a PB to the "front desk" area. : Delete the pit under the front door to the power station. : Add a 1x canister somewhere before going up the stairs to the second floor, : possibly in the small "office" immediately inside the entrance. : Fix rubble in room with annoying door so you don't get hung up on it. : Remove infinitely regenerating head bots. : Add return elevator to at least one of the alternate underground paths, so : John can collect all the ammo :P : Move Metalloids around in "run like hell" room so it's more likely : that attempting to run through actually works. : Change 1x charger in final "home base" to 2x, replace dangerous 2x : charger with 3x powerup farther away in the room. : : Burning down the park: : : Shotguns teleport in immediately (not after a little running around : outside). : Add 1x health canister to ammo pile near southeast switch. : Figure out why the Gunners cause crashes, fix if possible. : : Looking for Floaters: : : Add better instructions on completing the level to the "diagram" : terminal. : "Broken" door near end is always open (don't need to explore dead : ends to trigger it). : Replace Gattler in final battle with Michael. : : Last Minute Shopping: : : Make it possible to reach the 3x recharger without using either of the : secret weapons (c'mon, everyone deserves that :P) : Make it easier to get out of the water in the basement area. : Add something to the balcony area above the clusterfuck room to make it : worth exploring (right now it's just empty). : : Heads or Tails: : : Remove silly login message on first terminal. : Remove brothers ambush in bridge area. : Adjust ammo to make sure that shotgun shells are always available at the : bridge. : : Jagermeister's Nightmare: : : Place 2 mine packs at the location of each breach point, so it's no longer : easy to run out of mines before then. : Change first terminal message to be more clear about returning to that : location, then change final terminal message to instruct player explicitly : to go to "secret" level exit. : : Tastes Like Evil: : : Tone down infinite Beetle supply to remove monster lockdown cheat. : Add pattern buffer directly before blood run. Since it is definitely : possible to make the run without knowing about the switch, and most of the : frustration would be removed by not having to do the level again on each : failure, I no longer think it needs any more changes. : : Can we say MOSH PIT: : : Add mechanism for determining if Ian has been killed and altering terminal : accordingly. : : To the Liver: : : Tone down infinite beetles again. : Argue about what to do about the fusion mace. : Re-add pattern buffer before blood run. : : Chaos Inc: : : Add the Rebellion flag and a complete set of Reaver weapons to spawn point, : to allow the player to resume the story after Up from the Depths. : : Up from the Depths...: : : Add proper terminal and teleport back to Chaos Inc to giant Ian clone. : : : That should be enough to start discussion...
	If you'd like to include a link to another page with your message, please provide both the URL address and the title of the page:
	Optional Link URL:
	Optional Link Title:
	If necessary, enter your password below:
	Password: