Marathon 1 Redux

[ravenshining]

Thanks for testing it out! Yes, I noticed a huge cluster can form in the northeast corner of the ringing hallway, but I've been able to get through without harming anyone. I've been considering tightening things up in a few places, by going to 1 WU wide, 2 polygon wide corridors, but mainly for upper levels and some short connecting bits. The 1.5 WU hallways are easy to do and guarantee passage, but don't always look good.

Any thoughts on the security folks, armed with flamethrower, bouncy grenades, and shotguns? I think I ought to lower their vitality a bit. The shotgun guy is waaaay powerful if you can keep him alive, and I couldn't place more than 1 without seriously messing up the balance, but I really wanted to put something behind Durandal's "'cause I've got a shotgun, and you ain't got one."

[Coraxus]

I'm just curious if this topic is still active or what.

[ravenshining]

If people were interested in collaborating on this I'd pick it back up, but of the two serious people I thought would, one seems uninterested and the other is just being a jerk... and, the Marathon discord is basically just a troll server, so I've been working on a different open-source game lately.

[Lion O Cyborg]

If people were interested in collaborating on this I'd pick it back up, but of the two serious people I thought would, one seems uninterested and the other is just being a jerk... and, the Marathon discord is basically just a troll server, so I've been working on a different open-source game lately.

Sorry to hear about that. I'll happily give the most recent map a playthrough and record what I see if you like. I've got plenty time now to do it since I beat Tempus Irae recently. I'd snuck a peek at some of the levels via the level select command and they look impressive. The

Spoiler:

fog to explain the vacuum on FIREX5 you'd told me about

is implemented now, and there's also

Spoiler:

a new epilogue level taking place by Durandal's core and the bridge from Eternal X as well.

Now I intend to see them all in full, though my mileage may vary as I'll be aiming for

Spoiler:

the success messages

on the two escort quests.

Minor Edit from preview: Hmm, I forgot that the Pfhorums' spoiler tag functions differently to that of Steam.

EDIT: Just editing my reply to let you know that I've made it as far as couch fishing at time of writing and I like all that I see so far, like with when I looked at one of the older alphas. The only critiques I have at the moment are minor (and one is just a plugin thing anyway so it doesn't count) plus I still bear in mind it's also still an alpha at the moment.

[ItsMyPfhorte]

Hey - new member here and I can't quite quantify for sure just yet how much value my opinions and knowledge have, BUT...I'll happily give whatever you're working on a serious playthrough and provide feedback based on my original memories of the game.

See my intro post for some context, but the original Marathon (and then 2/Infinity) were huge influences on my childhood and I absolutely consumed everything I could about them on pre-PowerPC Mac. IIRC my computer was a Quadra 68040 and my brother had a better, first-gen PowerPC, but we both made maps/custom physics mods/scripts and really broke the game engine down.

The storytelling and framework this game provided is still the gold-standard for shooters and it's criminal to me that there's not more appreciation for it. Reworking it to be playable with a modern look/feel is a noble pursuit and god-willing (AI-willing?) I'll help you where I can.

Let me know what would be of most value to you right now and I'll try to get to it as soon as I can. Just to be clear it's been decades since I gave any of these titles a run, but I have no doubt that once I'm back in action and slapping some blue Pfhor in the face it'll come back to me.

[ravenshining]

Oh hey, sorry, I hadn't checked here in a few weeks. I'm honestly not sure where I'm at right now, but best familiarise yoursself with the new toolchain - weland, shapefusion, etc., or not if you want to write or illustrate. I'd love to have some mapping help for the colony missions, illustrations for the new terms, HUD scripting, what have you. I'll PM you a better way to get in touch.

[Lion O Cyborg]

Hi again. I've finished my playthrough of Redux and got it all written up. Currently the text LP I did as my recording is on my log under the name of "Marathon Redux (Alpha 0.013) Spoiler Guide" with appropriate warnings (saying it doesn't represent the final game and discouraging people from reading it if they want to avoid spoilers) in two parts for easy posting, as the Pfhorums' image resize code doesn't work. Would you like me to post it on the story forum as well or just provide the links to the log versions?

I also came up with a couple of ideas that I'll summarise here:

5D Space hallway in Couch Fishing

Personally, I would have just lowered the ceiling here to create the illusion that it’s a bridge. That only works if the polygons are set up right though, else it would lower the ceiling of the whole room.

Shuttle Drydock in Napalm

I like how the shuttles now have a way in and out of the drydock, but it’s still too small and doesn’t look anything like a drydock, other than the jacks in the middle. Not complaining though, as it’s just an alpha, plus the ship entrance is at least trying.

Things to fix for the next build: a lot more detail in the drydock to go with the new ship entrance in the ceiling it has now, turn the monster respawn rates way down and get rid of the tiny wasps. They seriously kill the pacing of this level by wasting my ammo and health. It turns this level from nice with a bit of challenge to just plain not fun, only helped slightly by the music and other bits.

The last part you know about from when I brought it up in the Rampancy Portal 2 stream. I also like how the flamethrower is planned to have a realistic range (going by the results I saw of a previous poll on this thread)

Question about the bomb plotline resolution (around Shake Before Using)

Now, I know this is still just an alpha but I’ve come to the final 2 lava pumps and I still don’t see the Pfhor bomb. Just curious to know because of that: what is the plan for this section? Is the bomb even intended for this specific level or a later one, like FIREX5 or Colony Ship for Sale? Wherever the bomb ends up appearing, I’d like there to be a puzzle involving switches and circuit/wire smashing to defuse it with clues on how to do it right. Hit the wrong switch or cut the wrong wires and there could be a Juggernaut explosion that kills the player and everything on the level, simulating the bomb going off.

For Colony Ship for Sale, I'm still not pleased that the room with the weapons you can enter via a secret from the older/original ios M1A1 is a suicide trap. I also have ideas for potential new geometry or level plans:

I wonder how this level’s geometry can be improved for future versions? I’ve seen suggestions elsewhere offering ideas as a Security team assault course or setting it in the Marathon’s reactors. I don’t know if the reactors are fusion like Halo but if they’re fission based, they could take a realistic reactor design, with coolant waterways and pipes, the Marathon’s lava cycle “sea” at the end of the rivers, waste channels and disposal/recycling plants (using the radioactive green slime in Pfhor ship levels), decontamination showers and cooling ponds for the spent fuel rods. What would you guys like to see improved architecture wise in this map?

I'm very proud of this next suggestion: On Two Times Two Equals, I found that you can go outside the ship through a secret lift in the first slime fall. While it's a suicide trap for the moment, I'm sure it's just an oversight in this case and I have a really juicy idea for a secret in this area:

Oh man, cool! This must be how the drones outside are getting in. You can jump and float around the hull of the Sfiera and destroy all the robots. I never thought I’d see something like this.

All I detect down there are pools of jelly. We should continue our search somewhere else. You can float over the skybox part of the hull in those gaps and grenade climb to get out. The search somewhere else part is going to be a little tricky as the windows are all closed and the line in the skybox where the waterfall trap was are one-way only so I can’t get back without reloading.

Assuming this secret (if it isn’t a glitch) is kept in the newer versions, an idea for this area would be to fight your way past the drones along the outside of the hull and find the tower from Naw Man, He’s Close’s development concept. You’d then cross the slime lake around it, climb the tower and find a weapons cache and a secret terminal up top that warps you back into the main level. It’s gotta have a really good message too, either a translated S’pht one or another fun little Easter egg.

Pfhoraphobia's boss fight seems to have a new defence, but it got rid of the controller's dodging and it still doesn't have an attack. I suggest in the log LP it could be improved by " restore(ing) the controllers dodging, keep the shield but make the havok rifle less overpowered against it and give the controller attacks of his own. Perhaps plasma flamethrowers from M2’s enforcers maybe, or a bullet hell of fighter shots"

In the next map, I like how you can destroy the Pfhor pupae but currently it looks rather underwhelming.

The pupae just shatter like glass with a little phut however. That’s lame. What I’d do instead is have them squelch apart and show the dying, half-evolved Pfhor climbing out, covered in Pfhor blood, yolk and gibs.

It would look pretty damn cool if we saw them being scrambled like fertilised chicken eggs like that. Especially as it wouldn't be too different to Pfhor and Bob hard death animations, only slower.

The last thing I recommend is changing the cargo holds in Welcome to the Revolution to actually look like cargo holds, with boxes and forklifts and crane hooks and stuff.

All in all, despite any teething trouble the current alpha build has, I still really loved playing it and I am happy to have helped beta testing it. (is that the right term?) I haven't tried it on Total Carnage yet, but that will be my second playthrough I'll be doing causally. I also need to try a vidding run after that to see if the planking system is implemented yet and how it differs from the main one.

I hope my playthrough and advice ends up being helpful.

Peace, and best of luck.

LOC

[ravenshining]

Apparently there have been rumours that my message in April was a "ragequit." I have not quit this project, nor am I in any way angry about abuses by or lack of involvement from certain parties.

Perhaps I should rephrase:

Other projects where I'm working as part of a team have my focus right now. When I'm done with those, or if interest in this unexpectedly picks up, you can expect work on M1R to resume.

It's also been accused that I'm ignoring interest in M1R. When I say interest in the context of working on M1R, I mean "I know how to and would like to work on this aspect" interest, not "Hey this is cool here's what you should do" interest. Feedback is appreciated, of course, but feedback does not a dev team make.

I've also been dealing with some severe health issues for the past year or so, but there's hope those will abate in the next year or so, which could open up room to work on M1R alongside my other projects.

So worry not. M1R is still on my mind, just on a bit of a hiatus.

EDIT:
There is a chance I might make a minor update in the near future to address things that broke with the newest release of Aleph One, just so the scenario remains playable as intended.

[HelviusRufus]

Apparently there have been rumours...

Rumour:
Open your ears, for which of you will stop
The vent of hearing when loud Rumour speaks?
I, from the orient to the drooping west,
Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold
The acts commenced on this ball of earth:
Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,
The which in every language I pronounce,
Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.
Henry IV Part II Intro.

An artist needs to move according to inspiration.

In yesterday's stream, they were talkin bout one company getting all the people and then forcing them to create good games. Good luck with that.

Work as inspired and I'll appreciate the result.

Cura ut valeas.

[ravenshining]

Some time ago I was checking the story page, and someone was posting about M1R. I tried to reply but was unable to get into my account and couldn't find a way to recover my password or reach anyone who could. So, here is the response I meant to post:

: IMHO, Marathon never looked so good (or maybe I never had a good enough
: I had not played the original Marathon in a long time, and I'm loving it.
: computer to see it like that? that's a possibility)

Aww, thanks! Glad to see someone got some enjoyment out of it.

: I don't even mind the old school, low res sprites (but I wouldn't mind hires
: sprites)

Unfortunately you can't just drop in one of the hires plugins like xBr, there's some new sprites that would need doing. I've gotten a new machine since I last dusted off M1R though that may be capable of doing some fancy upscaling or something, if I ever got around to it, but really what I needed with M1R was more help and the project kinda fizzled out for lack of it.

Well, lack of help, and the beckoning of another project where I did have other people to work with. On the bright side, thanks to said project I can Blender now, so if I come back to this I might be making my own 3D models to put in.

: And it says "Alpha", but I haven't found any bugs

Alpha because it is missing a big chunk of things I wanted to go further with.

: oh, there's a thing, why is "normal" the lowest difficulty?

I wanted to add higher difficulties and didn't see much point in keeping the lower ones, so I shifted it upwards. In retrospect, I should have kept at least Easy and done Insane with Lua, although there are some things Lua can't do in that regard.

: also, the lightest graphics setting is still dark,
: is that a redix thing or an aleph one thing? still, I LOVE how the
: alien staff illuminates a room for a few seconds.

I did lower the player light setting, with the idea that you would use things like the staff to see your way in dark places - another one of those things that is not fully implemented. This does not affect bright areas though, if you think bright areas are dark that's probably just because M1 uses kinda dark textures.

[ravenshining]

Also if anyone is interested in creating levels for M1R my sister has a textbook on video game level design I might be able to get you. I have no idea how good of a textbook it is or how applicable to Aleph One it may be.

[ukimalefu]

It was me posting about M1 redux in the story page forum. I loved it and fully recommend it.

Only one thing, I never found the fusion pistol (but I did find lots of batteries for it)

[ravenshining]

That's strange. It's in the same place as it's always been, plus extras for co-op. And you'll start with one in your inventory if you begin a new game post-Cool Fusion.