In the author's words, "this is a side trip in the Tempus Irae universe, and may be assumed to take place at any reasonable point during the original storyline." One level, or two if you count the setup intro. Mapmaking is very high quality, and the story is well-written. There are a couple of places where monster triggers could have been placed better... but that's a nitpick, suggesting that only nits are wrong with this one. Download it today - it's a great romp!
A 13-level scenario which manages to pack every trick and novelty ever devised for Marathon, every slick little piece of eye candy, all into an eminently playable package. Engrossing... you walk into a room, begin to marvel at the gorgeous lighting effects, and promptly get wasted by a foursome of invisible compilers. A blast... literally. The downside to all this coolness is the added detail introduces complexity which isn't always fully predictable. There are a few small glitches. Save whenever you get the chance, and change filenames, so you can go back to a previous version if you discover you can no longer go forward. All in all, a truly masterful piece of mapmaking... download this for the ideas alone! (But while you have it on your drive, you should play it...)
A rather intricate technique that uses the marathon engine as a binary calculator to add two numbers. Its limit is 31 (as the total), and because the actual mechanism is shown, there's a long walk between the calculator and the answer... but it's amazing what you can do when you're free for the summer. (Really, really detailed explanation.) Definitely worth a look if you're curious about how far the engine can be pushed for non-standard tasks.
In the spirit of Jason Harper's "Heartbeat" comes another "cutscene" level that you can add to your scenario. Or not. It's definitely worth watching, though... and the vistas opened by this pair of maps are pretty wide. C'mon... it's only 15K. Check it out!
A much-needed guide to the ins and outs of physics model editing, using Anvil. Arranged in html format, it's clear and easy to navigate. Still missing a little bit of information, but if you're working with physics models, you definitely want to have this around.
Have you ever wanted to allow players to destroy walls, or other types of large environmental objects? Here's a tutorial that shows you how to do it. Perfect for the scenario maker who wants a spectacular effect in their project... (I actually had to redownload An AI Called Wanda to make sure a similar effect wasn't used to make the hull breach in Station Alpha (the sequel), but it seems that was just a hole. I have a recollection of it not being there when I started... but there aren't any platforms in the area. As far as I can tell, Mark's come up with a completely unused technique... and a pretty wonderful one, at that.)
Wow. Mark wanted a way to set up a level such that coop players would be forced to bypass the level, but solo players would have to complete it. He asked for advice on the discussion forums at Marathon Central, but didn't get any answers... When he came up with a solution, it was complicated enough to warrant a writeup, so here it is. It's actually a demo map, showing (and telling, with detailed terminals) exactly how he accomplished the feat. (It's way more complicated than you might think...) The technique's biggest drawback is its resource utilization... 26 platforms used to divert players to the proper exit. As I read it, I thought, "There must be a better way..." but if there is, I can't think of it. This is very advanced mapmaking... not for the squeamish. If you're at all interested in player control, though, this is worthwhile reading.
Read Me states two maps that have been lying around on the author's hard drive a long time. Author says there's a lot of bugs, smearing, and the story is incoherent. There are not two maps in fact, but one (and a minor transport), maybe to a semi-second level. Crashed the old Mac towards the end. We will have to stick with the author's assessment.
A really simple 5D map. So simple, in fact, you may have trouble finding the 5D space... until your fodder is in it.