Hello hello, tbcr here. Like that door-to-door person that harassed your parents about encyclopedias, I’m here to sell the concept of this map pack to you. For the back half of 2021, various members of the speedrunning community have been brainstorming and working on various maps. The entire concept: take an idea and run with it. It doesn’t matter how good of a mapper you are. As long as you have an interesting idea, make a map.
Now, due to the experimental nature of this, you are going to see a variation in quality. Despite this, we feel that this breaking of the norms of conventional mapmaking can result in new and innovative ideas in content creation for Marathon.
There are four different types of maps you are going to observe in this scenario. These are mixed together based on difficulty and other factors to variate experience. Every level has an intended solution, but each level may possibly contain multiple solutions (some being intended as well). As such, be observant and think laterally.
Type 1 is based on somewhat more conventional mapmaking principles but still challenge the player. Type 2 is based on a concept or gimmick. Type 3 is more experimental – so experimental it’s hard to describe. Type 4 is for people who hate their lives and would like to quickly regret the choices they have made up to this point. These are known as “Dungeons-tier bullshit”. Due to the concept of this scenario, many maps are of multiple types.
A programming note: The following people were involved with level design in some capacity: tbcr, ObsidianCarnageX12, CKT1138 (Cory King Tucker), Aaron Freed, aperturegrillz, cassis, and Wrkncacnter. The soundtrack contains works by tbcr, Matrix_XV, CKT1138, and Adminn_1 ov NEFX; Aaron remastered all of these except most of CKT1138’s. The artwork was mostly generated with AIs including Midjourney, DALL-E Mini, NeuralBlender, and Stable Diffusion, with prompts created by Aaron, Matrix_XV, tbcr, CKT1138, and aperturegrillz. We also used various stock photos of unknown origin. The scripting was largely Aaron’s (slow) work, though Wrkncacnter’s Aleph One: Pathways into Darkness provided a bit of guidance for how to handle the ending, and aperturegrillz’s practice script and timer provided similar guidance for the monster counter and timer. So, with that said, have fun and finish durandal
