Unreal-Levels

Unreal-Levels.rtf is a design document that was leaked along with the Unreal Bible and The Unreal Story So Far. It features early descriptions of various Unreal levels (some of which were cut), as well as story elements that were not included in the final game (such as the reason for Prisoner 849's incarceration).
==Contents==
===ISV-KRAN===
MAP NAME: The name of a starship. ISV stands for Inter-Stellar Vehicle. Kran is the name of a Russian submarine with nuclear fast attack capabilities. It is short for Kranleigh. This map uses the Starship texture set.
MAP THEME: This map is a crashed starship on the planet's surface. This ship was operated by humans from the same homeworld as the player. The ship is a survey ship owned by a billion-credit corporation, called Inuit Engineering Corporation. This company designs, builds, and operates starships for various purposes military and business. This is the same corporation that the player was apprehended at 4 weeks ago. She broke into the company's computer center and stole plans for a new battlecrusier the comapany had designed for the military. In the process of this 65,000 credit theft job she murdered 14 security personale and enjoyed it. She was captured red-handed and sentenced to death by long term torture on the moon prison of  Kira. On route to this prison the prison transport crashed on the planet of Na-Pali
This map shall have a high tech starship theme of an engineering science vessle. The ship shall be 3 levels and primarily linear in design. The ship should have a very minimalistic functional feeling to it similar to Ripley's ship in Aliens 1. The player should feel as if they are on a ship that is very very big and has a sense of order to it similar to that of a Los Angelese class submarine. Functional and not comfortable. The player should feel extremely claustrophobic when playing this map, not in the sense that it is small, but in the sense that it does not sprawl out laterally like a building or a castle. If pursued by a monster in this map it should feel similar to the gauntlet run of Indian Jones as he flees form the rolling ball in the first movie. Run for your life and no where to turn will be a reoccuring theme. The 3Dimensional aspect of the game shall be incorporated in the transitions between the 3 decks, and many times a player will be able to see the deck above but may not be able to access it. This is a vertical/linear map
MAP STORYLINE: The ISV-KRAN, built by the Inuit Corporation, was manned by 25 scientists who were doing a orbital survey of planets in a new solar system in hopes of locating and documenting potential new mining ores or workable environments. The breathable atmosphere of the Unreal planet attracted the scientist to the planet, which was previously uncharted or investigated. As the ship initiated orbit, the planet's strange gravity forces caused a complete failure of the ship's navigation and orbital control systems. With no means to escape or power an orbit breaking thrust, the ship's orbit decayed over a period of 3 hours and ultimately plumetted down to the surface like a meteor. In an attempt to prevent the entire destruction of the ship and crew, the captain ordered a full power thrust dive, where the ship accelerates in an attempt to maintain a horizontal pitch. The ship crashed forming an enormously deep trench for over 5 miles in length. The entire crew was killed on impact. The majority of the ship's structure survived. The crew did not.
MAP CONSTRUCTION: This map shall be constructed with a linear layout limited in width. It should resemble the layout of a large nuclear submarine in design. 3 decks all stacked vertically. A tubular hull should be constructed and solid geometry built within the hull. Due to the as of yet finalized mechanics of the game's outside connection system, this map will be built at the end of a short but very deep trench. The player start shall be outside the ship in the crash trench. The player will only be able to enter and exit the ship form the tail section. The ship dug itself into the ground during the crash and only the tail section is exposed. The player will not be able to see the sides or top or any other part of the ship due to the fact that it is buried itself. The only exterior space shall be the enormous tail section. This gives the player a good feeling as to how tall the ship is and should subconsciously set the 3 deck theme into the player's mind from the exterior.The rear engine cones of the thrusters should be enormous. The player should not be able to climb out of the crash trench skid-mark and only be able to enter the ship. Once inside, the architecture of the ship will included limited powersystems for lighting.  This map will have no game exit incorporated as it is intended to be part of the continuous world of Unreal.
The ship has 3 distinct decks. The player enters at the bottom deck, which consist of engine rooms, fuel cells, pipes and duct work, crawlspaces and small control areas, A very underground and nasty diesal fuel type feeling should emanate from this part of the ship. Most of the areas are pitch black and dark, and many of the areas have the distinct RED ZONE type lighting to them. The player will activate the ships reserve batteries in the first chamber she accesses and power the few and far between lights in the rest of the ship.
The deck above the mechanical deck should be the purpose of the ship. Survey of planets. Here will exist all the areas that make up the function of the ship. Computer rooms, star charting control rooms, sensors, probe launching bays, a large loading module should also be included. A few basic berths should  reside on this deck. This is the deck that should have the most interesting hidden areas and powerups/weapons. If possible, the dead crew members should be found on this ship. Suspended animation/hypersleep tubes should also be on this deck. The player can interact with many aspects of the ship the most on this deck.
The uppermost deck is the bridge. The ship is piloted from this deck. It isn't as large as either of the other two decks.  It has a view screen and  overhead skylights to the stars (now to Unreal's sun.) Creatures that fly may have flown in through the roof and settled in the bridge. The bridge has fantasic computers and elegant pilot areas. It has no cofee.
MAP GAMEPLAY: How the player arrives at this map is through the crash trench. How the player gets to the crash trench has yet to be determined (although Eric and I have some incredible ideas how to do so) The player should be extremely impressed by the size of the ship even from the rear. The engine cones should look just like the cones from our own saturn rockets here on earth but 5 times larger. HUGE is a good word. The crash happened some time ago and the scene should be dark and scary. Strange cloud cast shadows should crawl across the face of the cones of this ship in an impressive manner. The wind should howl as the player gets close to the ship. Sand should blow up against the ship. A distant wind slapping of a shutter should be heard as a piece of the ship is peeled back and blowing in the wind and slapping up against the ship's hull in a rythmic pattern. The player should be able to explore the exterior of the rear of the ship and climb up on the cones to some extent. This will further emphaisze the scale of the map. Touching is believing. "God this ship is huge" The player should eventually find either a breach in the rear of the ship or an access door perhaps used for loading supplies. This ship has a loading dock but it is located at the bottom in the center of the ship and not at the rear.
Creatures that walk may have entered the ship from this area, but no humans have. The player explores this ship in an upward motion. Bottom deck, then deck 2 then lastly the bridge. As the player completes the map an access escape pod port will be found that deposits the player back outside at the start.At this point, without being able to see how the monsters look, move or play, I will not venture to state which monsters the player will encounter in this map. I feel that a crashed ship however attracts a lot of attention in a place as barren as the Unreal Planet. The population of the ship should include the following types of monsters.
Monsters that are animal like and make their homes in the ship for shelter or nesting purposes.Monsters that are scavengers and visit the ship looking for anything they could use, but don't live there (this may be in progress as the player arrives)Monsters that have followed or hunted the player to this point and pursue her through the ship. She shouldn't realize that until she is in there a aways. Perhaps on level 2 or at the end of level 2 she hears a sounds "holy shit, there's something else alive in here behind me"
===ALFA62===
MAP NAME: Alfa62. Alfa is a class of fast attack russian submarine. 62 was the build number I gave the map (i.e. save 1 , save 2, save 3) why in the hell Cliff named the map after the 62nd build escapes me. The mapname has a pleasant ring to it and the numbers give it a feeling that tells you this ain't no scary castle!
MAP THEME: The Alfa 62 is a warship. The design is conquor and destroy the universe. It has enormous volume and the style of a Klingon bird of prey but a lot less elegant. This is a lumbering dreadnought class starship. It transported a small army of marines or someother alien race intent on taking what they wanted. It's huge and has huge rooms of multple height and vistas. The ship is military military military. Not a place nintendo 64 or garlic pizzas.
MAP STORYLINE: This war beast was cruisng through the Unreal solar system and decided that it's pleasant little atmosphere would be a great place to build a base to stage the next war from in attempt to kill everyone in the universe. Much to their suprise this sweet little planet is the bermuda triangle of space and the dreadnought Alfa62 lost orbit and couldn't regain control. The fireball was described in Nali scriptures as the night the heavens fell..The ship suprisingly enough survived some of the crash. It crashed in a mountainous region and bounced off the side of a mountain on it's way down. The deflection is the only reason the damn thing didn't blow up and detonate the warheads on board. The ship billiarded through a snowy mountain range and eventually rolled to a stop right side up at the bottom of a canyon. 50% of the mercenaries survived the crash. The ship is now wedged in a canyon and surrounded on 3 sides out of 6 by mountain. The mercenaries who survived have been unable to power up the engine of the ship or repair it. They now guard the dam thing as best as they can with a vengence. Anyone who comes near is slaughtered. Due to the decreasing numbers of remaining soldiers, they do not venture out far, but have sent a distress signal and await rescue. This is combat heavy map with tons of firefights. The player knows that most of the systems on the ship are still operational and wants to access the computer and use the sub-space com-link. They might have a beer or two still left. The player is thirsty.
MAP CONSTRUCTION: This ship is somewhat round but very strange looking. It consist of a series of large volume decks stacked like staggered hotel floors. Exterior hull breaches have ended up becoming makeshift balconies and ledges upon which mercenaries patrol on guard. The geometry of this ship is based on height and volume and it is very tall. Part of the map will consist of the cul-de-sac canyon where the ship is now wedged-suspended above the floor of the canyon. On the floor of the canyon guards patrol and seem to have an operational null-gravity hover speeder they use to zip around in. You want that speeder!  This map includes the canyon cul-de-sac and an access tube to the lower bay of the ship. Above lie 5 decks of pure infiltration style military fighting. As if attacking a fort-because that's what it is. It's  ship that's now a makeshift stronghold.
MAP GAMEPLAY: This is fantastic map for those of the blood thirsty nature. You want to blow some monsters away? You got it. The storyline here is you. You want what they have! And you plan on killing everyone to get it. After all this is your profession. You are a theif would loves to murder. But you're no dumbshit and the player will learn to formulate a gameplan to suceed. The map starts out with the player approaching this canyon from some underground cave or whatnot-perhaps leading from a previous Crypt or Mine map. As you reach the opening of this cave you see this ship. You see guards patrolling on the ground. She also sees a speeder type vehicle parked by this big tube leading up to the ship. The player sees 3 of the guards jump in the speeder and haul ass out of the canyon around the corner. (this can be done with an actor or moving brush scripted and with scripted monsters)
Player triggers the sequence by stepping into a trigger radius where she sees the speeder from a distance. The trigger sets of the engine sound of the speeder and initiates the monsters (mercenaries) climbing into it. As the monsters climb in, the speeder engine rev up and it zips off.. This can be done with time control counter triggers and scripting. The player witnesses this from a distance 4 guards remain pacing the area around the tube, and a few boxes of supplies lie as well. They may even have a campfire going. They key here is to make sure the player has absolutely no weapons at the start of this map. She must be unarmed and not be able to make any noise. She must be in a position where she sees this event but cannot get to it before it finishes. It's elegant-it's real. It can be done and it will blow everyone away.
The player is able to snake down the side of the mountain and jump the guards and take them out in hand to hand style. She grabs their guns and maybe only a few rounds. She can now access the tube and ascend up a lift into the ship.
The ship style of play is that of street fighting. She is jumping guards in small groups, then checking out the rooms they were in. All the systems should be activated in this ship including some of it's guns. This is a good old kill everyone style map. Lots of mercenaries to plug and a few high energy weapons to be found for the first time. As with most ships access to some areas is limited by manipulation of switches and what-not. The player should be able to fight her way to the uppermost level of the ship and access some important artifact she really needs to use or get into another map. I.E. She finds a weapon or device that she must have to get around in another map. Lava suit-Jump Boots-Explosive devices-Scuba Gear- something. Something that she will realize she needs to progress in the game somewhere else. Perhaps somewhere she visited 3 maps ago and couldn't go any further. This part I have not fleshed out yet. The player does find a computer key that starts up the speeder. At this point a scripted monsters should be in the last area who runs over to a console and activates a self destruct mechanism. A loud alarm should start ringing and a voice should start a countdown in a sexy female voice. The player now must haul ass out of the ship in 2 minutes or less. If not she is blow to a million pieces. (the player may be able to restart the level but the monsters should be randomly shifted around. i.e. if there were 50 monsters 15 of them should have a random placement generator. I place in the editor an actor called Random_monster start and edit the proerties to say activate on restart only. That way the map will always play the same way the first time. The second time and on it will not be the same.
The player fights her way through the heavily guarded and well stocked map and loads up with firepower that she may need to take out a boss in another map. At the end of the map, the player accesses another way out of the ship and returns to the starting point. Just in time to trigger the return of the speeder and the guards she saw 30 minutes ago. The speeder comes hauling ass up with the mercenaries aware of her and pissed that she killed their drinking buddies. A bloody melee ensues. The mercenaries fire at her out of the speeder as it approaches where it pull up within 50 yards and they bail out guns a blazing. After she kills the bastards she is able to jump into the speeder. If she doesn't the self-destruct mechanism will blow her up.
===HAL===
MAPNAME: Cliff named this one-probably from the 2001 movie.
MAP THEME: This map was originally slated to be a "player fights mercenaries in a deathmatch style of game" map. I think that is a great concept. The mercenaries of ALFA62 have another ship on the planet too! This map is a different approach. Instead of the infiltrate and sneak style of the ALFA62 map, this map is more of a smaller warship. It has guns and ball turrets that the player can fire. The map should be one with open rooms and true 3D fighting on a multilevel sense. Not crampy and dark. The player should get the feeling that this ship is not really crashed at all and perhaps is actually just landed. She may intend on trying to fly the damn thing off the planet!  This map will be remembered for the multiplayer fighting "feeling" it has. The player will have mercenary enemies thrown at her in pairs or fours. With the AI of Reaper bots and then some!!! She will blast her way through this well lighted ship and kill everyone on board. It should be striking in style and design, and incorporate a lot of open fighting areas but maintain it's ship theme. Fighting on the USS ENTERPRISE but on 2-3 decks only. Lots of killing. Very tough enemies.
MAP STORYLINE: This is the ship the mercenaries of ALFA 62 have hailed. They came to the planet and heeded the warning message about the navigational disturbance. This ship sailed down and landed. It has the potential to fly but won't in the game. The mercenaries landed here and now plan on heading to the Alfa 62 to get their buddies (they couldn't land in the canyon where Alfa62 is) this was the first spot that seemed to be clear enough.They player stumbles across this map after ALFA 62 and perhaps hears the message asking for help from that map. something like this.Begin message from the Alfa map
"This is Alfa 62 hailing Hal come in do you read us."
"We read you Alfa62 with is your sitrep"
"We have crashed in the Mounatin range coordinates blah blah blah need evac team"
"We are on our way. Sit tight gentlement we will arrive in 36 hours"
"Be wary of the navigational disturbance field Hal."
"Roger that-we will initiate zero gravity sail upon arival and land directly -we will have you out of there before you know it"
"Roger Hal-Alfa62 out"
"crack siszlzlzle buzzz static"
"bzz -crackle--bring beers"
"roger"
This could be a recorded message that the player hears in the Alfa 62 radio room!!! The player could hit a switch and play this recording over and over. So when they stumble across the HAL with the big letters printed on the side saying HAL and the same type of mercenaries (maybe different skin) then it all makes sense. The player may consider trying to take over this ship and fly off the planet (we might even suggest that with a female voice over) Of course this never happens-See gameplay ehhheheh
MAP CONSTRUCTION: This is a tough one. A small canyon or crater would be nice. The ship should sit on it's landing gear all safe and sound. The rear loading dock and ramp should be lowered down and dumbasses walking around thumbing their butts just waiting for a babe like you to come by and blast them to oblivion. I have not settled on a ship design yet, but I want to model one that is LOW POLYGON. Perhaps just one extrudes 2d shape like I did in an earlier version of ISV-KRAN-remeber that Cliff??? A large Tholian Web spike type ship-3 landing gear. a loading ramp like C-130 plane and a way in.The map is inside this solid as carved geometry. It's not a big map, but big enough.
MAP GAMEPLAY: As mentioned earlier the ship is parked and waiting to be picked like a ripe fruit. The player can take out the guards and walk right in the back door. The size of the ship means she has plenty of room to dance. The ship is actually mostly a hollow shape. The interior can be like the lobby of a 3 floor atrium in a hotel. The cockpit of this ship is similar to the cockpit of a jet-seats 4 no room to do anything. It has an engine room and enginnereing, a few coolio hallways and a big open loading dock (it's a salvage ship designed to pick up tanks and crap) the player can move throught the map very quickly and the fighting can be extremely dynamic. The fighting will be the emphasis- She won't be able to fly it however. In the engineering area where a lot of fighting takes place, I would like to script it so the player enters through a balcony above some guards. They have a large detection radius and the see her almost immediately and open fire. I would like to have the control panels right behind where she is get blasted and explode or catch fire. There goes your vacation honey! In a fit of rage (because the ship won't fly, she slaughters everyone and takes their nikes.
===JUPITER===
MAP NAME: Jupiter is a Zero Gravity ship now crashed on a full gravity planet. The name was developed by Cliff and I think it's a great damn name.
MAP THEME: 3D BABY. This ship was piloted by a race of no bone exoskeleton insect bugs bastards who live in a zero or low gravity environment. They designed their insectoid ship with that pleasant thought in mind and it's a pain in the ass to get around in now! The player remembers this map as the one that was so vertical and included alot of funky jumping and fear-of heights ledges and other fall to your death type shit.
STORYLINE: The Thre'-Krill  (thray-cril) or some other funky insectoid invertebrae lifeform built this ship as a means to find  a new home. You see their low gravity no Air home was on a moon and they were pretty advanced in technology. They were like praying mantises and worked in drone packs like bees. There moon was struck by a meteor and whacked their little nasty home out of orbit and into a close orbit with another planet. The bad part is the new orbit generated a new level gravity that this race wasn't suited for. Over a period of a year, the gravity would take it's toll on the physique of these bug heads and cause things like their thorax to collapse or heart failure or nagging backache etc. Bottom line "We need to move honey."
In a rush they converted an orbital satellite into a power space ship and took offf in search of a new home. Unfortunately they ended up here and their ship crashed into a lagoon. Later that day, the ship and it's crew were eaten by the Unreal locals in a Bar-B-Q ala bug du MondeSad story isn't it? I hate bugs.
MAP CONSTRUCTION: A spiral set of two circles with the same vertex but pitched like orbitals from an atom. The center of the orbitals is the engine/Pilot area. The rest is Hive like home and lots of intertwining beams they climbed on to get around. Half the ship is underwater and 1/2 the ship is above water. It will be extremely hard to construct this map, but I will give it a shot.
MAP GAMEPLAY: The player finds the lagoon and the crashed ship. She must swim down pretty deep to enter the ship and almost drowns as she looks for a way in. Once she is in she finds that this is a weird ass ship. Most of the rooms in the lower compartments are flooded. Some with air trapped in them. Lots of cool swimming and coming up for air ensues. Then she reaches the surface of the sealevel/waterline and finds this enormously large radial design ship. Like being inside a giant spare tire!!! She works her way across little bitty ledges, jumps form ledge to ledge, uses jump boots to get high spots etc....It would be nice if one of our monsters would work here. She should find an artifact in this map or something game dependent. In some spots she can easily fall and drop 6 stories into a pool of trapped water (of course it hurts like a MOFO at least 50 points a drop). This is a scary map inducing fear of heights everywhere. It's strange geometry means you have trouble orienting yourself and getting around. It will be like climbing a mountain.
===SKAARJ FORTRESS 1===
MAP NAME:  "BLUFF EVERSMOKING" This map name is a reflection of the environment the player encounters. The location is a fog enshrouded mountain region (thus limiting the visibility and polygon count) The ancient Nali stronghold dates back 1,000 years and consist of medieval style architecture circa 1,000 a.d. (prior gothic-primarily masonry bearing wall/stone wall stacked /wood trusses and-post and beam)
MAP THEME: This map takes the player to a mystical castle stronghold that is strangely quiet and frightening. Upon arrival, the feeling shall be "desolate" and along the lines of a "GOTHIC HORROR" thus spoke the Raven. The fog effect has yet to be developed, but is intended. as per my conversation with Tim Sweeney.  This effect only takes place in the outside terrain aspect of the map. The actual interior of the map does not include this effect. The intent here is to create an air of the ominous and forboding in an alien sense. Not to reproduce the already done castle motif, but to create a more diverse environment that relies upon "suspense" heavily to set the mood.
MAP STOYLINE: This fortress was built by the Nali 1,000 years ago in a strategic location. It was during a period of semi-corrupt Nali history, when those of power ruled the lands. The defensive and Impressive castle was the base of operations for Lord Divinus. Shrouded in a blinding fog, made the Bluff an ideal spot to become a gateway to the underground rivers that lie below. Lord Divinus built this structure as his claim to control of the underground river highway that flourished below the surface. The planet's unstable weather conditions, found the Nali resorting to carrying on trade and communication through a net work of underground cavern rivers. This castle on the Bluff Eversmoking was one of the only outlets to the surface of these underground rivers, and thus a harbor of great commerce developed. Lord Divinus and his army controled this harbor and errected the castle as a gateway that encloses the harbor.
Unlike a harbor of a normal sense, the underground Harbor only rose to the surface in a small pond sized lagoon. The castle was centered around this lagoon and Lord Divinus controled it. A tunnel of Love type opening big enough for a small viking ship.
During the religious reformation period, the Nali broke free from the greed and power hungry system of the older years and formed a new more intelligent line of thinking focussed on learning and knowledge and spirituality. Lord Divinus was ousted by the Nali people and the Castle on Bluff Eversmoking modified to become more of a Haven rather than a military outpost. Commerce and the spread of "The New Thought" that would become Nali religious base flourished as the underground river highways teemed with traders bringing goods and religion.
Peace flourished.
Then the Skaarj arrived. Intent on enslaving the Nali, the Castle on The Bluff Eversmoking was a prize to be had that the Skaarj could not resist. The Keep fell in a day and the Skaarj enslaved the entire population of Nali there for work in their mines. (connected down the river some distance) The Skaarj returned the Castle back to its military function and it serves as one of their major military installations today.
MAP CONSTRUCTION: This map shall consist of three primary elements. In the outdoor terrain area, a separate facade of the castle will be developed indicating it to be an outcropping in the side of a mountain with a small lake in the foreground. Surrounded on 3 sides by the lake and the 4th side by the vertical rise of the mountain results in a formidable defensive posture. The player swims to the shore of the Castle and climbs up a small dock to access a portion of the main courtyard. (not the front door)
The secondary portion of this map is the Castle's courtyard and its perimeter  structure.
The tertiary element to this map is the descending grand stair and passageways that lead to the underground Harbor. This area leads the player to another map in the game.
MAP GAMEPLAY: The player arrives via the outdoor terrain world. The facade of the castle is shrouded in fog like mist. The outdoor area is a cul-de-sac with the 3 sides surrounded by mountains. A relatively large lake of 256 depth lies in front of the castle. The player cannot see very far, due to the mist.The player swims to the side of the Castle and arrives at a small dock where she can come ashore. There will be no other way to come ashore. The dock leads up as an outdoor wood framed deck and leads into the Castle tower. From there the actual map begins. Inside the fortress, the player will encounter all forms of Skaarj as they guard this makeshift base of theirs. The player will probably take on an infiltration style of play and jump many guards on patrol.
The player will access the main interior of the fortress and encounter a Leader style enemy. Perhaps a Skaarj Warlord, will flee from the player and attempt to escape via the underground river. This leads the player down to the underground river where (following the Skaarj Warlord) she will find a small boat that she can jump into and float down stream (player cannot control the boat and the player can swim faster than the john-boat.) Thus she is able to ride and fire as she floats into the underground cavern rivers.....
This leads the player to the Next map-The Skaarj Fortress2
Skaarj Fortress Map 1 is primarily a fighting map with a few secrets. She will combat many differnet types of Skaarj monsters in small 2-3 or single guard groups. No enormous Melee situations will occur. Some Skaarj Technology (such as computer equipment salavaged from their ship) will be found up and running. The Skaarj use this equipment to communicate between themselves and their Queen.
===SKAARJ FORTRESS 2===
MAP NAME: "THE LOCHE OF UNDERFLOW" This name comes from two key words. Loche meaning that which traps water and Underflow being the name given by the Nali to the underground river highway. Referred to as simply "The Underflow"
MAP THEME: This map is completely underground and presents itself as a connecting point for many of the maps in the game that are also underground in theme. The Underflow is a mode of transportation between this map and the previous one or the next. It is under ground, so therefore of low polygon counts and diversity. The map itself is a vast cavern where a large wooden Loche was constructed to transition between  two forks in the underground river called "The Underflow" Ships would arrive, and similar to the Panama canal, transition between the two bodies of water. The Nali originally ran this mecca for merchants and maintained the loche. The Skaarj came and ruined all that. The Skaarj now operate the fortress as a subterreanean base and continue their control of mining of the Unreal planet. The best mode to transport the tarrydium is by boat under water (for this region) And the Skaarj here guard those transactions as the ore is shipped from one of the mine maps, arrives here, is inspected, then sent onward to the mothership or some other location.
MAP STORYLINE: The Skaarj use this wet and damp fortress as a base of shipping of tarrydium ores produced from the mines. They are constantly on alert and it is a very active site with lots of activity. Infiltration will be tricky :D
MAP CONSTRUCTION: This map shall consist of the facade of a fortress in an underground cave. The front of the fortress is paralelled by the under ground river "the Underflow". In the middle of the undergound river are two large wooden loches used to control the transition of water levels between the rivers. The player cannot go further down the river until she explores this map's interior. The primary construction of this map shall however be the interior of the Fortress now run by Skaarj and all the Skaarj comrades. The interior of the map will include many connections to the water river and many interior water areas. Some portions of the map may include water powered devices that spin in the flow of the water. The entire map shall have a "wet" feeling to it.
MAP GAMEPLAY: Player arrives by floating down the river "The Underflow". She may encounter minor mini-maps along the way. She eventually arrives at the main lake canyon where the loches and the facade of the structure is visible. If she is smart she will be able to jump out of the boat and swim up to the perimeter guards and jump them without making a ton of racket. If she is foolhardy she can float right on down in front of the entire guard squad and be slaughtered. A small floating john boat (as described in Skaarj Fortress 1) presents the possibility for the player to do a little bit of ship to shore style combat.
Once the perimeter guard have been errradicated, she will find the front door locked. She must swim in the fast currents of the water and find a grated sewer opening (similar to The Rock with Sean Connery) where she can slip in. From that point on the player will be able to swim up and inside the map. She freely explores the fortress and eventually murders the entire Skaarj guard to discover some really amazing tarrydium weapon(after all that's what flows through here)
Upon the elimination of the population she is stumbles into a cache containing computer equipment and perhaps a radio transmitter. As the player approaches the transmitter an ambient SFX should be heard with a human voice hailing the planet (perhaps a rescue ship or something) As she runs to the transmitter in an attempt to use it the floor gives way and drops her into a tube that empties here back into the Underflow, but this time with a strong unbreakable current that wisks her away and down stream to the next map. Tough luck bitch.eheh
===SKAARJ MOTHERSHIP===
(In development)
END.
===TRITON===
MAP NAME: This map is called Triton.  It uses the Nali Castle texture set.
MAP THEME: The main focus of this map is the sunken Nali Castle in an underground lake.
MAP STORYLINE: Triton is one of the three original palaces of the Nali civilization before the arrival of the Skaarj.  This gorgeous citadel housed the major administrative government of the Nali culture.  Upon the arrival of the Skaarj, a major battle ensued.  By taking over this main center of Nali livelihood, the Skaarj hoped to send a clear message to the Nali of who their new rulers were.  However, the Nali were most determined not to surrender this place to the Skaarj, and pledged to fight to the death for this place.  As time past, and the struggle continued, the Skaarj became more frustrated and desperate.    Since the Skaarj could not take the stronghold to inhabit by force, they decided that it would be just as good to destroy this monument of the proud Nali people.  In one final stroke, the Skaarj discharge a major explosive device which caused the palace to sink underground.  The surviving Nali people awakened to find themselves buried inside an enormous underground cavern filled with water.
MAP CONSTRUCTION: This map will contain lots of stalagmites and stalactites.  Slime that has dripped from the ceiling and collected into pools will be place throughout the cavern areas.  Triton will be divided into two major locations.  The first location will be the sunken Nali Castle.  This once majestic structure has now been reduced to a rotting shell due to the effects of time and the elements.  Various signs of battle are evident throughout the stronghold (i.e. broken walls, beams, caved in areas, etc.).  The second location will be the underground lake.  Basically, this will be an underground cavern that has become filled over time with water.  Their will be makeshift docks constructed on the water edges, as well as, an old and weathered Nali ghost ship (kinda like the pirate ship of One Eyed Willy at the end of the movie GOONIES.)
MAP GAMEPLAY: The player will have to be very careful while exploring this old war-torn palace.  With lots of collapsible floors, pillars, walls, etc. the player will be given a sense that this place is very fragile and that each step must be taken cautiously.  The remains of the castle will be inhabited by the creatures of sub-terrain nature.
===NEMO===
MAP NAME: This map is called Nemo.  It uses the Starship texture set.
MAP THEME: Nemo is the name of the starship of an aquatic race of aliens that had crashed on the planet.  Their technology although sophisticated, was crude in fashion.  I want to give every element in their ship (i.e., their technology, architecture, etc.) a “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” look, with an emphasis on giving it an old submarine style.
MAP STORYLINE: Like, everyone else who has crashed on the planet, these aliens came too close to the planet and fell victim to its Bermuda Triangle effects.  They were one of many scout ships sent out from their homeworld  in search on a new planet to colonize due to the eventual destruction of their homeworld.  Their planet’s oceans, which is the race’s natural habit, were evaporating due to climatic changes brought on by years of industrial pollution.
MAP CONSTRUCTION: This map will have a continuing theme of domes and dome-like shapes throughout its architecture.  I plan on making use of hatch/pod style domes and doors that open and close like accordions (i.e. the sections fold inside each other).  Since the race is based in the water, this ship will contain numerous areas that are only accessible to the player by swimming.  This scout ship will be more long than it is wide, and there will be a good sense of vertical height to help give the player a feeling of being in an ancient submarine.
MAP GAMEPLAY:  This map will be fairly populated with alien creatures that have taken up shelter in the remains of this crashed ship.  The player will have to carefully avoid or navigate through the various nest and dens of the beasts which will defend the territory that they’ve staked out for themselves.
===TERRANIUS===
MAP NAME: This map is called Terranius.  It uses the Decayed Starship texture set.
MAP THEME: Terranius is the name of the starship of a alien race of traders that had crashed on the planet.  Their ship will possibly resemble the organic/hydroponics  farm areas in the ship Cygnus from the movie The Black Hole, expect not as clean and more darker/evil looking.
MAP STORYLINE: Dealing mostly with mineral rich soils and rare organic plant life, the mercenaries on this ship steal this material from other planets to sell to those who desire and will pay the most for their finds.  Lured by the prospect of harvesting the high Tarydium deposits on this planet, these mercenaries charted a course for the planet.  Ignoring all legends and rumours of  the adverse effects on starships in this region of space, the ship malfunctioned as they approached the planet.  The crash of their ship on the planet surface was the end result of their incurable sense of greed.  The surviving mercenaries have fortified the area around the crash site and have hoarded enough Tarydium into the burned out shell of their ship, making it a virtual treasure cache.  They plan to return to their homeworld with as much of the valuable element as they can carry, once they find a way of the planet.
MAP CONSTRUCTION: This map will feature many areas that facilitate the farming nature of these mercenaries.  They will be areas setup like huge greenhouses that store their collected plant life.  The ship will have many tubes and conduits running down the halls and up walls and along ceilings that transport water to all the parts of the ships.  Giant septic tanks and water storage tanks will be found deeper in the ship, as well as various ominous machinery that is used to process organic plant waste.
MAP GAMEPLAY: This map will feature heavy combat situations with many sniping points and lines of sight, throughout the starship.  The map will be populated by mercenary farmers turned soldiers who are willing to fight to the death to protect their precious cargo.  Gunplay will be fast and furious, and the player will continually have to run around the map to avoid being surrounded and ambushed by coordinating mercenary death squads. 
===SKYTOWN===
MAP NAME: This map has no name, but is what it’s called, a SkyTown.  It uses the SkyCity texture set.
MAP THEME:  This map will have a traditional medieval town theme complete with all of the little details that players will come to expect from a village of that era  (i.e. Dungeons & Dragons stuff).
MAP STORYLINE:  After the arrival of the Skaarj and the hostile takeover of the main Nali population centers, the Nali decided to build a safe sanctuary for their surviving brothers in cities in the sky.  SkyTown was one of their first locations constructed to try to rebuild the lives of the Nali people.  Having successfully eluded the invading Skaarj in SkyTown, more SkyCities were built to house the fleeing people from the planet surface.  These cities were a safe haven for the Nali people for many months until the Skaarj had completely dominated the planet surface and then decided to try and capture the Nali’s secret of SkyCity building.  Through this technology of city levitation, the Skaarj hoped they could fashion their own devices for planetary escape.
MAP CONSTRUCTION:  This map will be made of numerous recognizable and memorable buildings which include a tavern, alchemist shop, blacksmith, stables, and market square.  Each location will provide a key to completing that map.  The central location of the map will feature a huge clock tower that the player will have to ascend once all of the barriers to it’s entrance have been unlocked by visiting all of the other areas in the town.
MAP GAMEPLAY: This map will have the player engaged in more exploration than fierce combat situations.  However, there will still be a threatening feeling throughout the map, as if something, or someone is watch you from an unknown location.  If scripting and the AI is versatile enough, I would like to populate this map with only a few monsters, but have the follow you around and spy on you, rather than an all out attack on the player.  And perhaps, if the player is quick enough, he’ll spin around and just catch a glimpse of a dark figure behind him zipping across the street and disappearing in the shadows.
===VELORA (Skaarj Dwellings)===
MAP NAME: This map is called Velora.  It uses the Nali Castle texture set.
MAP THEME: The main focus of this map will be a religious Nali fortress that has been converted to a Skaarj base.
MAP STORYLINE:  Velora is the second of the three original palaces of the Nali civilization before the arrival of the Skaarj.  This castle was mostly inhabited by priests and prophets, and was mainly used for things of a religious nature like prayer and worship.  Upon the arrival of the Skaarj, Velora was one of the major sites targeted by the Skaarj for takeover.  Since the inhabitants of this palace were not warriors, they were not able to well defend themselves. Most of the Nali had fled to the other two palaces for protection.  Those that remained behind or who could not escape were captured and tortured by the unforgiving Skaarj warriors.  This religious fortress was taken in a matter of minutes, and it is here within its walls that the Skaarj decided to setup their base of operations.
MAP CONSTRUCTION:  This map will contain signs of a battle fought long ago.  Their will be visible damage throughout the castle in the form of broken walls and pillars.  For the most part, the structure will have remained fairly intact due to the easy takeover by the Skaarj.  Most rooms will contain signs of being “lived in” by Skaarj perhaps with skins and skulls of their prey hung like trophies all over the place.  A once holy alter for prayer and worship will be desecrated by the gruesome torture and dismemberment of a Nali high priest.
MAP GAMEPLAY:  This is a very dangerous place for the player.  The player will feel very uneasy about walking around in this dwelling.  I want to try to build a great feeling of suspense with the fear of the possibility of a Skaarj warrior lurking around every corner.  Ideally, it would be nice to give this map the feeling one would get if they were one of the marine’s walking into the area where all of the colonists were keep in the movie ALIENS.
===SKAARJ MOTHERSHIP 3===
MAP NAME:  No name as of yet has been decided for this map.  It will use the Skaarj Starship texture set.
MAP THEME:  This map will contain the main breeding area of Skaarj pupae which will lead up to the final confrontation with the Skaarj Queen.
MAP STORYLINE: This is the final confrontation with the Queen of the Skaarj.  The player will have to defeated her to obtain access to the single working escape pod to escape from the planet. (The big finale!!)
MAP CONSTRUCTION: n/a
MAP GAMEPLAY: n/a
===TOXIC===
MAP THEME: Toxic is the post-processing plant for Tarydium waste. It used to work rather well until the Skaarj took it over and neglected regular maintenance, allowing the Tarydium byproducts to overflow and pollute the place. It has some similarities to the pumping plants of Quake but is a lot dirtier, run down, and dangerous due to rust and chemicals. It is intended to be similar to Axis Chemicals in the original Batman.
MAP STORYLINE: Realizing the value of Tarydium as a power source, the Nali needed to remove impurities from the crystal in order to make it as potent and powerful as possible. After the impurities were removed (see FOUNDRY) the byproduct was broken down into a fairly harmless substance. (the always environmentally conscious Nali) The waste is funneled into the plant via piping. It first passes through a filtering process that requires several floors for the waste to pass through. (gravity pulls it.) After the waste is filtered, it is heated to extreme temperatures. Finally, it is siphoned out through the plant into an enormous dammed area where it is drained into the planet’s Sea of Solstice.
MAP CONSTRUCTION: This map should have a ton of iron containers/pipes/filter devices. Later in the map there should be a room that has gears and a control center in it that controls the drainage dam. The player should go through the break-down process, starting with the filtering, moving to the heating areas, and ending up in the dam area. The walls are mainly a dirty brick, the floors are iron and have traction to prevent slippage from goo on the feet. A center point of the map should be a giant “slimefall” (waterfall of slime.)
MAP GAMEPLAY: The player is entering into a dangerous and run-down place. Beyond the straight combat there should be a lot of collapsing or broken devices. However, when there is combat, it is usually a Skaarj that has taken over a room for his own purposes. There will be an area that takes place in giant pipes that used to have goop traveling through them. When the player is in the center of this area, the doors will close around him and a Skaarj will leap in. The player will have to duel it out with this Skaarj in order to open the doors and escape. There is another room in which the player must hit a button and rotate a giant room around him in order to access a switch that will open a trapdoor and access a new area. (large moving brushes are cool.)
===FOUNDRY (Skaarj Mine)===
MAP NAME: Another word for “Factory.” This is where the Tarydium itself is processed to remove impurities. (which go to Toxic.) This map uses the cleaner mine textures (more light gray textures.)
MAP THEME: This is where the Tarydium would be brought to in order to have dirt/rock, etc. removed from it so the pure element would be accessible. Like Toxic, it is in poor shape due to the neglect of the Skaarj. This map should have a lot of transportation devices and heating ovens.
MAP STORYLINE: Crews of Nali workers used to operate this factory in a timely fashion. The Nali needed Tarydium like everyone else, and had to clean it up before using it. There are still some Nali operating machinery around here.
MAP CONSTRUCTION: The map starts off with areas that Tarydium is brought into. From this large room, it is loaded upon conveyor belts/transporters that send it into the heating areas. Once it is heated, it is brought through a cooling pool where the temperature is lowered (due to the volatile nature of the heated element.) There are control devices throughout the map, hooks/cranes for moving boxes, and fans for cooling the heater areas out. The map is built in the side of a mountain, and the player can go outside in various areas to courtyard type areas. (in one of these courtyard areas the excess stone/dirt is dumped into a giant pile.)
MAP GAMEPLAY: In order to finish this map the player must open and access various doors/crushers of the purification process. Almost each room should have a different moving brush/device that he discovers. Thus, every room should seem different than the last. I’m hoping to have various rooms in which the floor drops out into an oven/heater, or the player is in a room that is rapidly closing up on him. As far as combat goes, there will be Skaarj everywhere as this is the mine the Skaarj have taken over. They’ll know that the player is on the way and will wait in ambush. This ain’t no surprise party, though, they’re out for blood. (this map comes later in the game.
===DIG===
MAPNAME: Simple. It comes from the major action that has taken place here, and that is DIGGING! This level represents the major areas that Tarydium has been mined from.
MAP THEME:
MAP STORYLINE:
MAP CONSTRUCTION:
MAP GAMEPLAY:
===VORTEX RIKERS===
MAPNAME: Rikers is a prison, I believe in New York. Vortex has been added to suggest a spaceship. Hence, Vortex Rikers.
MAP THEME: This is the first map in the game, where the player begins his journey. This map is intended as an anticipatory map. It is meant to set up the rest of the game. There are no bad guys here (except at the end of the level,) just dead and dying prisoners and guards. Some of them will lay still until the player approaches, upon which they’ll start writhing around and screaming. Some will already be screaming and writhing when the player finds them. If the player shoots them, they’ll stop. There will also be some stuck lifts and creaky parts of the ship that create odd screeching sounds that are meant to be “false alarms” for the player. (like the cat that always jumps out of the dark in those horror films.)
MAP STORYLINE: “I awaken with a killer headache, and at first, I can’t recall what has happened. When my vision clears, I recognize my tiny, dirty prison cell, and remember the chaos of this heap crashing onto a nearby planet. My door appears unlocked, I proceed out of my cell and into the main cell block corridor. Flames are lining the hallway, the lights are flickering, and a great deal of the structure has collapsed around me. I can hear screams of pain from above, I kick in a grate on the wall and make my way to the ships’ power source. Something has affected the generator, it appears to be blinking erratically. I wander into the control room and see a huge streak of blood across the floor. As I approach it I realize that a guard has been torn in half, the top of his body is in one nook and the bottom is across the room. This could not have happened in the crash, something hungry and violent had to have done this.
MAP CONSTRUCTION:
MAP GAMEPLAY:
The following was written by a person for whom English is a second language...
===DISSENT===
MAP NAME: This map is going to be a crashed decayed ship.
MAP THEME: Dissent is a crashed ship . This ship contains a lot of biological garbage . Some aliens have used  very advanced technology to improve themselves and their life span, but this process is complex and really expensive so it was only for the very rich people on their planet . Everyone wanted to access the eternal life on the planet. Then there was a civil war and a bunch of eternal people and some scientists have escape using this ship.The ship is crashed on this planet for hundreds years .Unfortunately , the Skaarj found the ship and they’re trying to use the slime as a bio-weapon .A bunch of skaarj scientists have installed a lab in this ship , this project is top-secret, so there are a lot of guards and military forces in the ship.The goo is extremely toxic, and is active for 100.000 years and it kill everyone who touches it .The Skaarj scientists have tried to find a way to create a virus with this goo . The goo is extremely toxic but the Skaarj have tried to make it compatible with the Nali body structure , so they can assimilate it and transmit it to the others . The skaarj count on that powerfull weapon to eradicate the last Nalis who’re still fighting .
The Aliens have found a material which can resist to this goo and the skaarj have found and used this technology to create some bio-armors to navigate in the goo , The skaarj are a bit taller than humans but it should be ok ...Then the player will be able to find a bio-armor to go in the lower parts of the ship.When the ship was crashed , some goo containers were broken and the bottom of the ship is filled with goo .The player has to find this bio-armor (which won’t disappear ) this armor is not like in quake , with a limited life-span , but you can keep it , finding it is one of the major goal of this level.The aliens have found a chemical process to reduce the gas emanations of the goo , so you can breathe in the level but there are a lot of fans an pipes and filters to avoid the gas concentration in some rooms
MAP STORYLINE:
MAP CONSTRUCTION: This map should have a ton of iron containers/pipes/filter devices.I’ll use the cleanest textures of the set for the upper part of the ship , the corridors and rooms will be large and there will be a lot of movers , lifts , because these aliens are big and have a lot of difficulty to walk.There will be 3 sub-levels in the ship :First level , life support , rooms with beds ...The player will access to the second level through an air duct . This part of the ship is damaged , some goo is present in a few areas , the goo gas emanations have corroded the walls so it will use the mold texturesThere will be huge pipes , air ducts , fans ....At the end of this sub-level the player will find the skaarj lab and barracks . She has to kill everyone to find the bio-armor which is kept in a place with heavy-armored skaarj.Then he can access the part of the ship which is filled with goo . She has to find the good triggers to activate doors or pumps ,if that’s possible, to have water with dynamic level .At the end , She finds an interesting thing , I don’t know what yet , perhaps an artefact of the old Alien civilizationor ... Then she has to find a trigger to destroy the ship . (Self destruct sequence with red lights ... )
I would love to have some Nalis guinea pigs (with some goo on their texture skin )
She has to kill them to stop their nightmare .
MAP GAMEPLAY: The player is entering into a dangerous and run-down place. Beyond the straight combat, there should be a lot of collapsing or broken devices. However, when there is combat, it is usually a Skaarj that has taken over a room for his own purposes. There will be an area that takes place in giant pipes that used to have goo traveling through them. When the player is in the center of this area, the doors will close around him and a Skaarj will leap in. The player will have to duel it out with this Skaarj in order to open the doors and escape. There is another room in which the player must hit a button and rotate a giant room around him in order to access a switch that will open a trapdoor and access a new area. (large moving brushes are cool.)
Category:Unreal Documents