A small pack of medium Infinity netmaps in the Wolf3D style, to be updated continuously. The newest one (07/11/19) is "Secret Machine Life". The other two were previously released individually: "Through Havoc's Various Nodes" and "Trial's Parallax" (originally released for Yuge). Future netmaps made in this style will be packaged in updates of this upload, with update notices and individual download links included in the description for those who already downloaded a previous release. This way Simplici7y won't be "clogged" or "spammed".
This is another solo level for Shadervoid, findable here: http://simplici7y.com/items/marathon-shadervoid-the-labyrwraths-of-growth. It's Extermination, so return to the starting tile after killing everything.
Disclaimer and Credits
Please note that this is a hybrid scenario. I take no credit for any of its custom content beyond level design, the opening text, and the title screen logo and subtext. All other credit goes to the creators of Project Conflict (for the enemies), Mararthon: Yuge (for textures), Female Bob Shapes, Marathon: Pathways Into Darkness (for scenery), Tempus Irae (for scenery), Rubicon (for scenery), Damage, Inc. (for scenery), Weland (for the menu screen), the logo in the title screen, Hardcore Sounds, Hardestcore Sounds, common use movie sounds, and some sounds I took off YouTube.
Also, this scenario is (arguably) best viewed in GL Shader graphics, mainly for the platforms.
Introduction
With a new cast of enemies based on edits of RadBurn’s Project Conflict mod, Marathon: Shadervoid is a brutalist, structuralist, and continuously-mapped-for take on Marathon gameplay that takes place in a strange other dimension and deals thematically with humans’ war with themselves. Released here with two levels (one an introduction) and meant to have many more individual levels made for it over time, it is intended as an ongoing exploration of the possibilities of a certain efficiency-based level design formula, and infused with a kind of uncanny Lynchian horror never before seen in Marathon.
Plot
“Humanity is currently living in deep strain under the horrid reign of the Tribecom regime and their Erosion Task Force enforcers. Somewhere and in spite of this, a secret grassroots research and development organization has formed called Inteflow Enterprises, specializing in dimensional travel technology. They eventually find and access a dimension for the first time — a strange one consisting entirely of oddly arranged colorless block units, which are distinguished by varying light shades and appear to be carved out of a great void that mixes with liftable “door-like” blocks, earning it the nickname The Shadervoid. Its exact nature, and the source of its constructions, remain unknown; yet it is technically habitable with no sign of other life, and IE hope at least to learn from it and use it as some kind of refuge spot. As such, a team of members begin setting up and testing machinery near teleportation spots in several different parts of The Shadervoid, all while keeping communication signals with other crewmembers in their original world. However, at one point, signals mysteriously start to become intercepted, and the environment within The Shadervoid reportedly begins to falter in some respects, making teleportation problematic. Eventually, all signals are abruptly cut off. You, a guerilla fighter in the precinct that IE is based out of, decide with some fellow fighters to grab some arms and teleport into The Shadervoid to check on the crewmembers “just in case”. Yet there’s some sort of malfunction, and you black out.
When you finally wake up, alone…”
NEFX is proud to present the first ever custom-made map for Pathways Into Darkness...Or at least Marathon: Pathways Into Darkness. This is an extermination level, so return to your starting platform to exit after killing everything.
This level is highly action-oriented and full of edifying trials and variety like never before experienced in the game.
"Thresholds of Rite" is a level built for Tempus Irae in the style of a Wolfenstein 3D level -- that is to say, no variation in floor or ceiling height (save for obstacles). It has slightly modified textures and physics, along with a new NEFX music track that plays in-game (if you have music turned on).
To get the track to run, just drag the Music folder into your Tempus Irae folder along with the map and it should run. If it doesn’t for whatever reason, say so in the comments. If nothing else, you can just listen to the music separately, loop it on a media player while you play, or simply go without.
Much thanks to Windbreaker for helping me with a lot of the technical hurdles, as well as playing through the level and offering a couple of good tips in design. You are a true comrade.
Being able to rally however many players you want on-demand for any map you want to play on without the players saying "no" to it is a dream come true, and it's a good form of training at any rate that requires a different set of approaches and strategies to optimize your scores. It's enough to warrant competing with other humans for botmatch scores within different parameters, in addition to competing against people directly in netgames. There are of course some limits that we may overcome someday, such as not having different randomized color tables for the same weapon class, or the bots not being affected by liquid velocity. I've also done some personal modification to make bots drop their weapons upon death, since sometimes in netmaps (especially in the older netmaps) you can have an instance where there's only a little weaponry in a remote or hidden spot and you're forced to eat shit over and over because that causes bots to spawn already with that weaponry. Overall, however, this is a revolutionary invention for Marathon gaming that opens up many doors and allows an experience that even human deathmatch can't completely reach (though the same is also true in reverse). Take a look at the Lua script sometime, it's educational.
It's true.
I ha to rip off Wacky Jacks while meeting my negative review quota to make a point.
Despite what I said earlier about the gritty pixels, these are more poster-worthy.
Make things make no sense.
It's good, but nothing beats gritty cult pixels.
Keep things out of the way. Thanks!
It might be good, but do you think I'm going to admit that NOW?!
Nelson laugh
It's true.
It's probably good but I'm leaving a bad review because I have to balance things out and I'm a purist. Booooo!
That must be true because it's in the name.
It's good.
This person deigned to remaster the entire 2+ hours of an NEFX album, so I know this is good. Besides, anything that makes things ridiculously more difficult is worth making, just to be a jerk.
This map pack is so generous it gives you a kitty cat to play with and a Kleenex box for when things get so moving. Plus there's the Lh'owon Lanes for all those geriatrics out there, since they're the ones who still play Marathon (aside from me, for now).
This is Adminn_1 ov NEFX giving this the stamp of approval. It's legendary and that's why it's stickied by community luminaries.
Thank you for inspiring further thought about the potential of Marathon scripting and adding an extra layer of melancholy to the CRIST lore.
All that's left is figuring out how to script so that you can respawn mid-game like in regular netplay. I'm looking into this myself.
It'd be great if I could get a job in my field soon. Instead I have to look at this.
It'd be great to find a way to turn these into a hired private masseuse to be sent directly to Adminn_1's house for a month and release it as Marathon: Yuger.
Well, bless my giant proverbial mouth on this page, eh? When you wish upon a Marathon scenario-reviewing comments section, your dreams come true.
It'd be great to find a way to turn these into Kill Them All-style solo maps and release them as Marathon: Yuge.
I desperately hope this message finds you before you make the mistake of uploading this file. Well, not just this file but before you get sucked into Marathon at all. We can do so much better than this. Our future is bright. Marathon will ruin our lives. When you see this message, please for both of our sakes, find a different path in life, or you'll be uploading things like this.
If this message fails to get to you in time, at least it can help you prevent an even worse fate. One day you will be tempted to leave Boise. DO NOT DO THIS! This is not a mistake you will be able to recover from.
Best of luck to both of us in the future.