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Title       : In the Rusty Cage (With Water Coursing Through its Veins)
Date        : August 18th, 2016
File        : jam7_mjb.zip
Author      : Matthew J. "Bloughsburgh"
Website     : http://youtube.com/user/blattymeow
Description : Interconnected rust ridden tech research lab with water pouring throughout the facility's walls.
Testers     : Scooter

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Installation

This is part of the Map Jam 7. Following the Map Jam 7 instructions will also install
In the Rusty Cage!

***My map was designed to be played with r_wateralpha 1***
  
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Skill Levels

EASY (0) : Greatly reduced enemy threat.
Designed for "touring" the map.

NORMAL (1) : Balanced enemy threat. Moderate difficulty.

HARD (2) : Increased enemy threat.
Designed for those seeking a challenge or find normal too easy.


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Level Design Process:

Oh man, I could type for hours so let's just lay it all on the table.

I didn't start Jam 7 until about 8 days after it started. Luckily there was a deadline extension of 1 week which allowed me to finish just shy of 3 hours before the deadline!

So for Jam 7 the theme was Than's Plumbers Don't Wear Ties (But They Do Carry Shotguns). Than's level has the following elements:

-Dark tech theme
-Water, multiple levels
-Quoth mod
-Windows
-Long map title

Pipes an an allusion to the title I think. To be honest with you, I can't count a single pipe in his level! But pipes were a theme as well.

Okay, time to start.

How about that base theme?

I intially created a idbase texture set around a very large room that would have you go one of two ways. Once both ways were finished, you would go through the center and exit. It was terrible, I couldn't get any inspiration and I lost motivation quickly. After searching for a better texture set
(because I think idbase is fucking ugly as hell) I found that I always enjoyed Rubicon 2's textures from John Fitzgibbons. I actually really don't like most base maps and I figured I'd never create one either. Rubicon's base textures are fantastic (Rubicon Rumble Pack is my favorite Quake release of all time) and gave me motivation and inspiration to try it out.

So we have the texture set, now back to the map concept:

Interconnected, not a lot of filler rooms because we want to have a lot of content with less space used in order to conserve time. Actually, I think you should never have filler rooms. Sure you can have corridors and connecters but to have a non-inspired room just to extend gameplay is yucky. Make a more detailed and inspired room with multiple connections to said room instead! I wanted the level to be a large underground base that was split into 4 quadrants. Each quadrant was visible from each other and after visiting all 4 sections you could escape.
Here the ring secert was born. I wanted the level to be quick but also have a secondary gimmick of trying to jump through rings.

As I started building the map, I found I was not doing the 4 quadrant plan after all. Instead I was going to make a central room that spanned on both sides but also had an upper floor. As I started making this first room and boxing it out I suddenly realized:

"This would be really cool if you could go to the exterior of this box, and enter back into the main room via different routes and directions."

The Rusty Cage was born.




But let's talk about pipes...

They are expected as it was one of the main elements of this jam. I exclusively use TrenchBroom 2 for editing as I found it the most approachable and fits the current modern defacto standard for making maps with brushes. It's the modern Quake editor if you will and I am bias towards it. I digress, TB2 has some issues making curved structures due to its missing skew brush feature. Most other editors have this feature and Kristian has stated he plans to make this feature happen. Once that does, TB2 will truly be the only editor to ever use! But for now, curved pipes are very hard to make in TB2. It can be done, but it would take a lot of work and time plus using a large amount of messy vertex editing. I try to stay away from complicated vertex editing just for the fact it can cause a lot of brush issues later down the road. If you look at the source, you can see out of the map's boundaries I was playing with making curved hollow pipes but never getting anywhere. Instead I opted for lots of straight pipes and a see through wind pipe visible as soon as you start! I really loved the idea of the wind tunnel being the "psuedo-goal" for the player. The moment you slowly rise through it and can see the main room getting smaller is pretty cool I think! I made the trigger_push here intentionally slow to further embrace this moment. Instead of pipeworks, I just made large hollow pipes that jutted through the building in some architectural nightmare. It ended up working and I even was able to make some pipes slant and the happy accident of the "unravelled" pipe that is the preface to the double waterfall jump.

Maybe we should converse about water...

Initially, I wasn't focusing on water and actually was playing around with the idea of only included a puddle of water to be rebellious against the theme. I decided against it when I found a use for the blue liquid (It's blue in the game!). The first water section to appear was in the main area. That bay section was actually going to be a drained place with 3 elevators that enemies were standing on. Once the enemies were killed, the lifts would fall and you could access the outside. Eventually I didn't like the repetitive actions of this and flooded the place instead! I wanted the player to be forced to explore the water section to progress. I placed the button to extend the small bridge right beside the laser barrier to embed in the player's minds they will have to return here later. There is also a literal swimming pool section of this map and it's even outdoors! It is a bit out of place but considering the research tech going on here, it makes sense I think! So while there is a huge amount of less water usage than Than's (Hah) I am happy with what I have. Quake doesn't play too well with water gameplay as it basically involves numerous biosuit spawns and rotfish....so many rotfish. Although an afterthought, enemies can happily play in water and attack the ranger. I would love to make a large full-fledged underwater map if more assets become available!

Quoth the raven...

Possibly the most critical element to include was the compatability with Quoth. So before I ever released my first map: A Horse Named Quake, I created nine "play" or "test" maps before. They were completely playable but never released because it was me learning the editor. Before Rusty Cage, I had created 5 vanilla maps, and 3 Quoth maps (plus 1 AD - That being Horse). Creating those 3 Quoth maps really gave me an advantage when it came to quoth entity work. I felt very comfortable with the toolset and creating the logic I wanted to happen came very easily. If I never used Quoth, I would have a less unique map. I wanted to include as many Quoth elements as I could as long as they fit the map. I think I did this quite well: I even use some non-base monsters but make them fit the base theme! Ogre? Disgruntled Lifeguard! Guant, Gug? Biohazard containment finale! I even make use of info_bomb! Although I prefer AD tools, Quoth still holds its place and some of the monsters I actually prefer over the largely medieval monster sets of Arcane Dimensions. One thing I think Quoth did best was expand the base monsters and entities to really let tech maps shine. The base theme was the perfect compliment for a Quoth jam!

I see you through this func_wall low alpha texture...I mean window...

Than made good use of windows and glass where Quake isn't really the best to do so. Still, with a little work you can get something that resembles glass and walls. Thanks to func_breakables, you can really get that glass effect! I used glass and windows pretty extensively if not demonstrated by the glass wind tunnel jutting from the center of the main room where you start! The main computer room also has large shield shaped windows with one even busting through! Finally the finale has a large window that can be broken through if you are playing on a certain skill level. Windows seem to first appear intimidating and there is even a test map to showcase how to use them. Personally, one just needs a func_wall, the alpha key, and a solid color texture. I used Than's *glass texture but really I think I could have just used a grey solid color and get the same effect.

I heard you like map titles...

For some reason, my intial title was "He Drinks Your Milkshake" as an ode to "There Will be Blood". No idea why, just sounded right to me. As the jam theme was Than's map. I also copied the element of his obnoxiously long map title! Notable potential candiate: "Pipes Work Sometimes (But Not When Rusted)"

Final words...

I feel I really hit the theme in my own unique way. I personally feel my map is unique and should stand out from other maps but that is not to take away from the other mappers. I am envious of making very consistent detailed geometry that other mappers appear to create with great easy and finesse. Luckily Quake excels at looking pretty with bulky brush work so I can hide my lack of skill in that department fairly well. Another note is that this level is a void map! I always wanted to create a void map as I think they are absolutely stunning in appearance. This map was at first going to be set in a late evening setting with dark yellow sunlight bathing the exterior of the cage. The bright skybox would expose the simplistic shape of the level so I needed pure black to truly mask the sharp edges. Void worked perfectly and I actually prefer its look compared to the evening sun. No sunlight was used, instead many bright white lights coming from halogen buzzy sources. I love that light_buzz ambient sound and placed it everywhere! To make the structure appear less boxy, I added detail where I could, vents poking out, waterfall flows, and corner lit up ledges. Being a void map, means that there is a bottomless fall if one tumbles over the edge. I don't like instant kills much and especially if the majority of the level requires some platforming over said instant kill spots. Instead I opted for safety nets where the player will be teleported to a recent location depending on progress in the level. If I learned how to use logic gates, I could have dynamically updated the teleports to be the most convenient for the player. Instead you get the second best thing which is mapped solely on progress. I also completely re-worked the roof section from scratch to give it an actual roof-like appearance instead of a flat top.

Speaking of the roof...

The finale was always going to be on the roof, but when push came to shove I could not find inspiration on the outside flat parcel of level! Instead what you got was an upper storage/teleportation experimental chamber with views to the outside radio towers.

Okay, I would divulge more information but this thing has a deadline so I guess you can always analyze the source or ask me personally!

Thank you for playing my map.

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SECRETS:

********SPOILERS ON HOW TO FIND ALL SECRETS**********

1) Walk around the Cargo Bay through the dark corridor to reach a yellow armor!

2) Turn right when you first make it outside to see the SSG just from jumping distance!

3) Once you ride the lift with the green armor, follow until you see a monitor on your left and look up. Shoot the red switch and become Thor!

4) Before heading down into Sub-Level 1, go around the corner of the ledge directly across from the door to find a large nail box!

5) Shoot the discolored wall directly across from the override terminal in the generator room for some 4x damage!

6) Before leaving for long waterfall climb, (Your second one) creep over the ledge and discover a small underhang with a bunch of goodies!

7) Once you activate the final override, jump onto the newly created window ledge and hop onto the nearest pipe. From here, jump inside the pipe connecting the central wall. Now, jump into the pipe on your left to grab the coveted Red Armor!

8) With your newly found water climbing abilites, be sure to climb the waterfall in the corner of the main room. Hop to the open pipe and grab a Mega Health!

9) To get the next secret, you must jump through all of the yellow rings you may have seen throughout your time in the level:

	1 - Instead of jumping down to the SSG, hop over the top of the pipe and continue around the corner to find the first ring!
	2 - Slowly fall over the edge when leaving the main room and first entering the large waterfall area to fall directly into the 2nd ring!
	3 - When you climb back up to the bridge section, jump through the center pipe leading to the main room and drop into the ring you've seen from the start!
	4 - Climb the large waterfall and turn around. Jump to the structure containing goodies and hop to the center platform. Peek over the edge to find a sneaky 4th ring!
	5 - Ontop of the same platform, seek out a waterfall leading almost to the roof. Scurry towards the postlight and drop down to the side ledge. Take a dive into the pool but be sure to aim for the 5th ring!
	6 - On the outer rim of the pool area, walk over until the outer edge bends inward. Look down and fall into the 6th ring!
	7 - When making the large leap to the double waterfalls to access the main console room, climb to the level below and round the U-bend (see what I did there?) to find the 7th ring. (It is just above the 2nd ring)
	8 - After grabbing the Mega Health, fall onto the dark ledge where the pipe leads and around the corner you'll find that eighth ring!
	9 - After the final override, jump to the central ledge that connects the large broken window sill. Jump to the roof of this pipe and walk into your last ring!

After all rings have been accounted for, enter the once sealed Cargo bay!
	
 


10) When all other 9 secrets are found, a message will display: "You are worthy." "Come find me".

Head to the 9th ring location to the back of the wall and jump onto the ledge. Climb the small ladder to get on top of the central vent. Scurry along the small border ledges that make up the room to eventually get access to the open vent
with the gold globe. Drop into the unknown!

Climb the ladder to the roof and locate the yellow and black pillar on the far end corner. Push the yellow frog switch and...


*********END OF SPOILERS********


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copyright:        The source map file is included in the zip file if you want to
		  see how something was done in the map.
                  Please do not use any of these assets in any commerical project.

additional        The majority of the textures are based on existing Quake assets
compilers and     BSP/VIS Compilers - TYRUTILS v0.14 by Kevin Shanahan
Dev tools:        Coloured light and LIT support by Bengt Jardrup
		  Light modifications by Eric Wasylishen
                  TexMex by Mike Jackman (organize textures)

engine:           Designed and tested to work with the following engines:

QuakeSpasm 0.91.0 (http://celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=60452)

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Map Information:

Game          : Quake SP only
Coop/DM       : No
Difficulty    : Easy 47, Normal 87, Hard 113 - Monsters
Textures      : apsp2.wad, jf2.wad, my own texture of the yellow frog!
Editor        : TrenchBroom 2.0.0
Build Time    : About 2 weeks

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Thanks:

-The people of func_msgboard who are happy to provide assistance to anyone
wanting to continue the Quake legacy.

-Bengt Jardup, Eric Wasylishen, Spike, and MH for their compiling tools/modifications/efforts.

-Kristian Duske for creating TrenchBroom and TrenchBroom2. Simply the best Quake editor out there!

-Andrew Denner and Kell who have provided a robust toolset
that does not put limits on my creative liberties during mapping!

-Scooter for testing the map. I would have released a flawed
map if it wasn't for you!

-Necros for the compiling GUI which makes life so much easier.

-Noel Lacaillade for organizing this map jam!

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Distribution / Copyright / Permissions 

Quake I is a registered trademark of id Software, Inc.

This MOD/MAP may be electronically distributed only at 
NO CHARGE to the recipient in its current state, MUST 
include this .txt file, and may NOT be modified IN 
ANY WAY. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS THIS MOD/MAP TO BE 
DISTRIBUTED ON CD-ROM WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION.

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