================================================================
Title                   : FbMelatonin
Version                 : 2.0
Release Date            : April 6, 2000
Fixes                   : None
Filename                : KOTH-FbMelatonin.unr
Author                  : Andrew "Hobeaux" Penick
Email Address           : hobeaux@unrealengine.com
Web Page                : http://frogblast.unrealengine.com
Description             : 'King of the Hill' version of my
                          extremely popular map of the same name
Where to get 
this map                : http://frogblast.unrealengine.com, 
                          http://www.planetunreal.com/nalicity
Other levels by author  : UT:
                          DM-FbRoute66, DM-FbDuality, DM-FbMelatonin
                          KOTH-FbRoute66, KOTH-FbDuality

			  Unreal:
                          DMRoute66, DMMelatonin, KOTHMelatonin,
                          DMDuality
                          
Special thanks          : GorGor for making the mod.
                          Everyone that put up with me.

================================================================
--- Play Information ---
Game                    : Unreal Tournament 4.00+
Level Name              : KOTH-FbMelatonin
Single Player           : no
Cooperative             : no
Deathmatch              : no
King of the Hill        : Yes!
Difficulty Settings     : no
New Sounds              : no
New Graphics            : no
NewUnrealScript         : yes
External DLLs           : no
Known bugs              : Careful going up the Jump Shaft

--- Construction ---
Editor(s) used          : UnrealEd 4.05b
Construction Time       : 3 Minutes to convert the 
                          DeathMatch version to KOTH


Installation
------------
KOTH-FbMelatonin.unr    : Maps directory
KOTH2.ini               : UnrealTournament\System
KOTH2.u                 : UnrealTournament\System

                        : You *must download* the Mod from either
                          http://frogblast.unrealengine.com or
                          Nali City in order to play


Author's Notes
--------------
This map appeared as part of the game Marathon by Bungie Software. There
are three flavors of this map to date: Unreal, KOTH Unreal (KOTH is a special
new King of the Hill where players must be in a certain location on the map,
the "hill," for a duration of time in order to win. since everyone is trying
to get on the hill, it's usally good, chaotic fun) and Unreal Tournament. If
we can convince GorGor to finish the UT Mod for KOTH, there will be yet another
iteration of Melatonin :) There is a remote possibility that I may do a
Melatonin][ with more levels, more kickers... but don't hold your breath :)


--- Frogblast: The Ventcore Project ---
Marathon multiplayer maps almost always made for excellent gameplay and, 
in some cases, have been better than today's "modern" arenas. Those of us
on the Frogblast team endeavor to revive much of the spirit and excitement
of Marathon Multiplayer gaming but in a truly modern engine. We hope that 
you enjoy these old conversions much as we do.


--- What Is "Frogblast The Ventcore"? ---
Bungie Software's original Marathon game their were human civilians who
basically ran around and got in the way.  However as part of the plot of the
game some of the civilians were captured by the aliens and 'assimilated'.
that is, they were converted into kamikazes who would run at you and explode
when they got close.  By the time of Marathon II: Durandal these assimilated
humans could actually speak a few phrases such as, "Don't shoot!", "I'm out
of ammo!", "I love you man!", and the immortal "Frogblast the ventcore!"

**If you really want to know the amount of effort invested in this map**
. built the much of the original map during a lunch break as a tutorial 
  for a coworker. progress on the map stopped for a year.
. took on the map project again, and completed it about a year ago
. revisited the map in November/December 1999 and decided to port it to
  Unreal Tournament. In so doing, scaled most of the map 150% larger to make
  for better gameplay (the lights above the arena were originally positioned
  on the walls, so you can tell how much smaller the arena was)
. began to re-path the map and discovered something: the paths from the ledges
  to the bottom of the arena wouldn't connect. since that distance was outside
  of the normal scope of what a player could fall without damage, the paths 
  "knew" that they shouldn't connect (even when placed next to each other)
. to fix the problem, attempted many iterations of using LiftExits/LiftCenters
  to cause the bots to jump around...to varying degress of unsuccess.
  - first attempt was an unbridled success, sort of. i had failed to assign
    the tags to the liftexits/centers and so they all connected to one-another
    across the map. made for spagetti-paths and was terribly inefficient, but
    the bots would jump just about anywhere. that part was cool.
  - tags put into the liftexits/centers which cleaned up the paths considerably.
    bots would get stuck running in place at the bottom.
  - attempted to use on-way directional pathing to recitify the problem without
    success. (many times)
  - moved the lift centers to the top of the ledges. didn't fix it.
  - moved the lift centers to the bottom of the arena. didn't fix it.
  - tried using separate liftcenters for each liftexit pair. didn't fix it.
  - researched the Epic maps over and over but couldn't seem to stop it. so i 
    conceded that it was a problem i wouldn't fix.
  - added a playerstart to the bottom of each "well" in the arena. the bots
    no longer run in place at the bottom of the Jump. Instead they completely
    abandoned the pathing, and run smack into the wall and ran in-place there
    in a vail attempt to get to the top LiftExit on the ledge. Removing the
    playerstart returned them to their normal errant behaviour
. after fighting with the pathing for a *month* (bit tenacious) i decided to
  break the rules. after all, following epics examples was doing me no good.
  moved the lift exits that were at the bottom of the "wells" up into the air,
  well out of reach from normal running. PROBLEM SOLVED. the bots now jump from
  the top liftexit, move through the liftcenter, and then fall through the 
  liftexit at the bottom and then land on a new pathnode. they're happy. i'm happy.
. added the "secret" area and decided to use a kicker (jump pad) to get to the
  top ledge. noticed that on the way up, a player would drag against the wall
  of the shaft and could actually be pushed back into the direction that he
  came from (down). reduced number of sides of shaft from 16 to 8. seem to clear
  most of it up.
. submitted the map to Make Something Unreal Contest and lost by a wide margin.
  noticed also, that the ReadMe had the wrong Map Name in it. It's Melatonin, 
  not ThePen (by UTCP. had used a readme of theirs and forgot to change one, 
  critical line. whoops)
. received feedback from CyberA that the texturing sucked and he hated how the
  map looked like it belonged on old-style non-true-3D games a la, doom, marathon
  (which this is based on) well, he had a point: I hated the textures too.
. retextured the map. added more light to the arena. added lights to the elevators
  so you could see them for crying out loud. (also, learned that my machine at
  home was unreasably bright which is why the lighting never bothered me before)
. spent a couple of weeks trying to fix the Kicker Problem.
  - Noticed that players seem to stop at the points where the lights fixtures
    were located. coincidence? removed the light fixtures. didn't fix it.
  - decided that maybe the lights were somehow causing it. removed the spotlights.
    didn't fix it.
  - noticed that various ZoneInfo icons were at about the same level as where
    players would encounter the "invisible barriers." moved them. didn't fix it.
  - reconsructed the shaft so that it was made up of sections instead of one
    long tube. made things worse!
  - reduced the number of sides from 8 to 4. boring. ugly. fixed it for a while,
    then i encountered the "stopping" again. *sigh*
  - screw it. made it 8. separate sections. let the player beware.
. changed the secret area to have less complex architecture. more of a hack really.
. sat down and observed what the heck was going on with the shaft/kicker problem. 
  determined that as players drag against the walls of the shaft they are building
  up friction until a threshold is reached. when that happens, the engine assumes
  that the player has hit a wall and bounces back the other way (down) and can 
  receive significant damage at the bottom. sent people ICQs about it, and they
  confirmed that it was *possible*
. changed physics of the shaft to Flying and set the ground friction to 0. 
  didn't work either.
. added an invisiblecollisionhull to the area of the shaft where players drag
  against. this effectivly reduced the amount of "friction" that they can build
  up and, 9 times out of 10, will make it to the top without problems. considered
  the problem solved.
. made a new screenshot for the level. 
  considered the map done. 
  wrote the above history.
. after an extreme delay I added the Hill Trigger and a rotating light to 
  mark the location of the Hill. Took about three minutes.


Copyright / Permissions
-----------------------
This level is copyrighted by Andrew Penick. Level based on one created
by Bungie Software for Marathon.

Authors may not NOT use this level as a base to build additional levels.

You are NOT allowed to commercially exploit this level, i.e. put it on a CD
or any other electronic medium that is sold for money without my explicit
permission!

You MAY distribute this level through any electronic network (Internet,
FIDO, local BBS etc.), provided you include this file and leave the archive
intact.

----------------------
UNREAL (c)1998 Epic Megagames, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed by
GT Interactive Software, Inc. under license. UNREAL and the UNREAL logo are
registered trademarks of Epic Megagames, Inc. All other trademarks and trade
names are properties of their respective owners.

MARATHON (c) Bungie Software Products Corporation.  All rights reserved.
