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Timeline

Coop-Only Level Bypass Demo

Wow. Mark wanted a way to set up a level such that coop players would be forced to bypass the level, but solo players would have to complete it. He asked for advice on the discussion forums at Marathon Central, but didn't get any answers... When he came up with a solution, it was complicated enough to warrant a writeup, so here it is. It's actually a demo map, showing (and telling, with detailed terminals) exactly how he accomplished the feat. (It's way more complicated than you might think...) The technique's biggest drawback is its resource utilization... 26 platforms used to divert play...

Counter Revolutionary

He's done it again... In response to Mark Levin's Coop-Only Level Bypass Demo, Jason has once again extended the scope of the marathon engine with a cool new tool. The enclosed map shows you how to set up a counter that can count events (number of players appearing, number of secret areas, you name it). The attached readme adds a few extremely innovative potential uses for the technique... if you're making a solo scenario, download this and process it. Use the technique... make Marathon better.

Level Detector

From the master of cool tricks comes a bizarre, but thought-provoking idea... a mechanism by which you can determine the difficulty level at which someone is playing. The included demo simply has different terminal messages for each difficulty level (kindergarten through total carnage), but you could, in theory, use the technique to decide where to send a player, depending on what level he's playing on. The possibilities are pretty far-ranging...

Cheat Detector v1.oh

An interesting demonstration of a technique that can (usually) weed out the cheaters from those that aren't using cheats in a given solo scenario. It doesn't always work, but it should work enough of the time that you (as a scenario maker) will get much less mail complaining about problems from people who only encounter those problems because they've cheated to a place they shouldn't be. (It was inspired by, to some degree, Jason Harper's Level Detector, and can be similarly used to control where a player goes based on his playing style.) Like others in this genre, most of the information ...

Simple Bypassing Levels in Coop Tutorial v1.0

A set of techniques useable by mapmakers attempting to force coop players to bypass areas that solo players need to pass through. Simple, clearly explained, these have some limitations (spelled out in the tutorial), but should work quite well regardless. They are far simpler than either Coop-Only Level Bypass Demo or Counter Revolutionary, both to build, and to use. The platform tags mentioned are the Pfhorte versions, since that's what the author uses. Yet another cool tool to extend the marathon experience...

Exploding Pipes Tutorial

Have you ever wanted to allow players to destroy walls, or other types of large environmental objects? Here's a tutorial that shows you how to do it. Perfect for the scenario maker who wants a spectacular effect in their project... (I actually had to redownload An AI Called Wanda to make sure a similar effect wasn't used to make the hull breach in Station Alpha (the sequel), but it seems that was just a hole. I have a recollection of it not being there when I started... but there aren't any platforms in the area. As far as I can tell, Mark's come up with a completely unused technique... a...

The Hastur's Workshop Archive

Hastur's Workshop, at Double Aught's site, has long been a source of inspiration and answers for marathon mapmakers intent on a better product. Michael Watson decided to preserve those pages in an offline form, in case they are ever removed from Double Aught's pages. (I think as an offline source of mapmaking tips, they're useful enough as they are, no need to justify them as historical.) Comes with a bonus Bungie Forge/Anvil FAQ v2.0.

TI2-The Lost Levels Spoiler Guide

The spoiler guide for Tempus Irae 2: The Lost Levels. Lots of useful info and insight from each level's creator. Inexplicably not here before now. (It was created almost 3 months ago.)

Anvil Physics Model Reference

A much-needed guide to the ins and outs of physics model editing, using Anvil. Arranged in html format, it's clear and easy to navigate. Still missing a little bit of information, but if you're working with physics models, you definitely want to have this around.

Dual Sided Force Fields

Force fields have been around since Fm created them in Seige of Nor'Korh, but they've been one-sided (That is, they work from one side, but are passable from the other).

Then Jeff Swartz created dual sided force fields in an award winning map for the Evil Map Making Contest called "FireCracker".

Here, by Michael Watson, is a description (and demo map) showing how to make two-sided forcefields. Nicely done.

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