DM-Effluvium-1v1 Manifesto

Level Stats
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Players: 2
Bots: Yes (but please don't)
Game Modes: 1v1 deathmatch only
Construction time: Over 300 hours...  =P
How to play: No mutators, play as is, 2 players ONLY!!!

Contents:
1-Foreword
2-Background
3-Known issues
4-Story
5-Level Introduction
6-Q&A
7-Design Philosophy
8-Tips and strategies
9-About the Demo


Foreword:
Why does a UT level need a manifesto? Well, this level began as a study on the flow of UT's deathmatch design. Every hardcore Quake player that I have talked to has complained about UT's weakness in the 1v1 tournament style play, which I will from here on out call "tourny." I want to talk about my in-depth analysis of that claim.
	Let's be honest! The UT community is made of a large proportion of new 3-D gamers that have little or no idea of the kind of hardcore community that Quake was and is. This is a double-edged sword... the community is arguably the most "innocent," fostering, and honest one amongst its peers, but it is no mystery that UT is scoffed at by the "hardcore" Quake players. Not that there aren't "hardcore" UT players, and not that there is a lack of talent, but the fact is that UT is just not as refined when it comes to tournies, and Quake players do have merit in their complaints. Don't worry, I'm a 100% UT fan!!! But to have UT respected as an alternative in the fast growing world on competitive online gaming is my ultimate end.
	So without further ado, I will address the many protests that the community will have against this argument, and I pray that my map does a fair job of proving that UT can be just as "hardcore," but only suffers in that its tourny level design is not up to par yet. Whether I am right or wrong, I hope by the end of these notes that I will at least have stimulated more thought of UT's unique tourny style.


Background:
This is for those curious as to why I feel justified in making such pompous claims in a game (as those who play with me know) that I'm not even that good in myself, especially since I'm a CTF player! Hehehe, well, here goes. I've been a tourny player only in games such as Doom and Hexen (hence the name Effluvium), and was rather good, so I do have a fair amount of firsthand experience with the basic principles of deathmatch, but also I've spent months studying successful deathmatch maps, such as (and not limited too) Q1DM4, Q1DM6, Q2DM1, various levels from Hexen, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark (N64), DM-Deck16, DM-Phobos, and several Q3 maps, especially the Challenge Pro Mode ones, and some I forget at the moment. When I say study I mean I am gauging level flow, watching professional players play them, measuring respawns, weapon/armor distribution, lighting, footing, hazards, timing, sound cue placement, teleport functionality, level control, etc... more than I can name! Just trust me for now that I know what makes deathmatch tick.


Known Issues:
1. Elevator is a tad hard to get in sometimes... and bots have trouble with it.
2. Bots don't use the fan.
3. Occasional framerate spikes. You'll need a fairly fast computer for this one. It can average 180-200 polys.
4. Some people may find the bottom too dark... well deal with it! Why are you at the bottom anyways, hero?


Story:
	In the days before the Liandri Mining Corporation began its bloody sport, the Unreal Tournament, it one time uncovered an ancient Roman bathhouse. Instead of preserving this relic, they destroyed it, turning it into cesspit of sewage runoff, a sump stolen of its dignity. Now the Tournament has become wildly popular, and in a desperate attempt to satisfy the crowds' thirst for exotic locales for deathmatch arenas, they converted this abandoned mine into the ultimate tourny grounds that will winnow out the weak. Though little of the relic is recognizable now, its archaeological worth erased, it is a most fatal place for Tournament combatants who wish to hold man to man duels of honor... only one can emerge from that dirty, filthy drain... that draught of effluvium.


Level Introduction:
This level is designed to be fast, vicious, and very unforgiving of mistakes. The basic idea is that there are two levels, the bottom and the upper (which include everything above the fan). The fan platform is sort of an intermediary level. Winning necessitates that you control the other player's access to the upper level. There are three ways for the bottom player to make it to the top: 1) run up inside the side pipe that leads to the uppermost room, 2) use a combination of jumpboots and the fan, 3) take the elevator. The upper level is desirable because of the armor, the rocket launcher, and the flak cannon, as well as giving the geographical advantage (i.e. being able to guard the Redeemer... I'll get to THAT  =P ).
I call the top player the controller and the bottom player the underdog. The underdog has enough weaponry to present a threat, but only through much guile and trickery can he take back the top. Once settled in control, the controller must fight for aggressively but without getting so greedy as to accidentally yield the king-of-the-hill position. Okay, now let's answer some of those burning questions! 


Q&A
Q: Why the unbalance? This isn't a very fair level! The controller can dominate so powerfully that it seems to be conducive only to a one-sided match!

A: As my good friend and level design advisor Toaster (who incidentally is an "old-school" Quake player who rumbled with the best of his time) says, "Asymmetry is GOOD." I've taken this to heart. Yes, there is a fine line between frustrating hard and tantalizingly strategic, which CliffyB calls the "carrot on a stick," and that is what I've worked hard to achieve. But why have it to begin with? Well, I've gone through UT levels enough to realize that everything is just too evenly, mathematically spread out so as to be fair. Sorry folks, but fair is BORING. 
	Unlike Quake, which traditionally has two contested items, the red armor and the megahealth (or rocket launcher or yellow armor depending on the level), UT's weapons are just too powerful overall, and the armor doesn't do enough to be a critical control point in and of itself. In other words, short of putting in the shield belt, there just aren't any things in UT that create a crucial control point. But it is these contested spots and how they are handled by two pro players that know exactly what the other is thinking that make 1v1 so exciting, perhaps even an online "sport." 
	If you watch Quake matches, you will notice that it is not uncommon to have lopsided scores even between opponents of nearly equal skill. Why? Because once the underdog has slipped up and given the other guy an advantage, it's all over unless he pulls a miracle. These deathmatches are about who can gain that upperhand, who can be "on fire." It takes a while to settle into the role as controller. It is really any man's game... until someone slips up, and that's the way I want this level to be. Hardcore.


Q: Why the hell is there a Redeemer in this level?

A: Yes yes yes I KNOW. That Redeemer is MEANT to be in that level, as well as other stuff that I will get into later. Firstly, understand that the Redeemer is NOT MEANT TO BE a turnover weapon for the underdog. At the level of skill Effluvium is aimed at catering to, the Redeemer is ridiculously easy to defend against, and very hard to fire off without committing suicide.
	So what is it for? Two reasons, and I'll tell you the dignified one first. The Redeemer is only meant to buy time for its user. It should allow the underdog some good time to get to an important area or position. But it is also bait for the greedy and foolish since it is in a position that renders you very vulnerable (underwater).
	The less dignified reason for the Redeemer is that it is my attempt at showing off. If it works as planned, then it proves my theory (see Philosophy section) that this level is not about brute force of firepower but of prediction and planning. I put every weapon in this level and did my best to see to it that every one of them had its own use somewhere. This is where UT's strength is: ALL its weapons are deadly, but in different ways. This level was designed to try to squeeze out as much use of every weapon as I could muster.
	One last note about this. I hope that this level allows someone to show off exceptional Redeemer maneuvering skills (such as up the pipes or around sharp corners). This will elevate it above the status of an Idiot's Guide to Fragging into a real "precision" weapon. Or maybe not, but i tried  =).


Q: Why should we leave the "No Powerups" mutator off?

A: I will admit that I created my own deathmatch standards for this level. I felt too restricted by the many official tourny rules I saw everywhere. I personally believe that excepting possibly the Redeemer, there should be no complaint of the items. I put the health vials in for the specific purpose of generating sound and helping players position their enemy. This is a VERY sound-based level, and unique sounds need to be used to create that. This is the very reason there is no music.


Q: Why are there those frustrating and annoying "dead" zones where I just get caught in and die?

A: There are two specific death traps in Effluvium. Being chased around the bottom pipe that leads up to the minigun, and behind the window pane in the flak room. I believe in corners, not physical ones, but tactical ones that are risky zones to pass through to get to somewhere else. I believe this encourages skill, to avoid being caught in a one-way deathtrap. This way, the controller can never be too confident.


Q: What are the respawn times?

A: Redeemer respawns every 1.5 minutes, armor and everything else respawns every 30 secs.


Q: Why the constant comparison to Quake? UT isn't LIKE Quake.

A: UT isn't like Quake, but deathmatch principles are fundamental regardless of the platform. In my humble opinion, UT has made the mistake of trying to EMULATE Quake so far! Or at least it hasn't taken full advantage of its unique weapon ballistics, damage ratios, movement physics, etc. Many of UT's levels are primarily for massive deathmatches rather than tournies. This may have been Epic's design decision, a way of garnering the impressive community that it has, but now things can change. We need to keep our hardcore players from drifting off to the glitz of Quake.
	So to answer the question, I compare UT to Quake constantly because Quake is considered the standard for tourny. By comparing, we can elicit the differences between these games and thus find the strengths in both, and then let them be true to themselves and not to each other. However, it is my hope to see UT as intense and fast-paced as the highest level of Quake tourny playing, and it is to this end that my design philosophy (see end) argues the things it does. I truly believe the two to be as different as soccer and hockey.


Q: So what makes this level "hardcore" other than the fact that you've made it ridiculously unbalanced?

A: I think, to a certain extent, that the level taxes the winner as much as the loser, is what makes it hardcore. Yes, once you are the controller, you just may never give your opponent another chance. But I wanted it to be a mind-job predicting the underdog, I want the winner to win big, but be just as tired and trembly as the loser. It's like skateboarding down a hill street in Frisco... you screw up and you might not get another chance, but if you make it, you make it BIG. Thresh wasn't the greatest shot in Quake (although he was near that), but he won because he was just a clever bastard, not because he was an aimbot. He could maintain performance under pressure like nobody's business. I don't think I've given either player much mental room to breath in on this map. It should test your skills, your strategy, your endurance, and make you sweat.
	Finally, I think that a hardcore level is one that effectively separates players of different skill. A skilled player should destroy a weaker one. There shouldn't be factors of luck, bad luck, or cheapness involved... the level should create a distinct gradient of awesome to terrible players.


Design Philosophy for UT Tourny:
The following are the principles of UT I've discovered through countless hours of study and evaluation. If DM-Effluvium is a failure, then blame my execution and at least let the following concepts be absorbed.

1. UT lacks a centralized contested "power-up" essential for conducive play because of general high weapon power. Thus, instead of "red armor" UT's things of greatest contest should be weapon variety and positioning. Weapon variety because it controls the opponents positioning, and every weapon controls a unique tactical angle/resource. Positioning because UT physics are fairly heavy and slow, and so for players to span great distances there must be an emphasis on vertical movement and/or jumpboots. A player who has fallen to the furthest distance from an essential item or control point loses time, capacity for prediction, and the element of surprise. This is unlike Quake where strafe-jumping and rocket-jumping allows extremely fast movement.

2. UT should have no fundamental difference from Quake as to how many control points must be covered by a dominating player. In other words, it should have around 2-4 paths to contested points. UT does differ in that simple Quake-style corridors and jumppads to those points do not bring out the full potential of its weapon set, and thus makes for banal gameplay. Thus the UT weapons set is best used when its myriad of trajectories and ballistics are used to control different and dynamic paths in a level.

3. Ammo should not be limited as much as it is in Quake. Players need to be trying to collect different weapons for different situations, not loads of rockets for every situation. 

4. Weapon placement, as a rule-of-thumb, should be at or near the place where that specific weapon is desired. UT frankly is just not fast enough to have the players go weapon hunting. At worst, dominant weapons may be placed in neutral zones. 

5. Armor and health should be treated like ammo, but be placed either in an area vulnerable to crossfire or in an area accessible by only the 2-4 paths if they are put in concentration. Green armor should be made desirable and treacherous to get.

6. UT has four sound effects that the level design must deal with, and thus juggle to create a map that seems replete with dangerous laser tripwires that can alarm the enemy if a wrong step is taken or if the player gets greedy. Sound is essential to the psychology of the game. The goal of good sound placement is to place just enough sound cues so that critical areas on a map are "triggered."
	Because UT has so many useful weapons, it is difficult to do this! Thus, the following have been my ways of solving this. Whenever possible, I grouped weapons and their ammo together, stimpacks together, or ammo together. A pile creates about the same amount of sound, so that a player can get loaded up with less sound, and thus sound trails do not become blatantly obvious but can still be useful. Health vials I have used similar to armor shards in Quake 3, where with a line of them one can tell not only where the opponent is but which direction he is heading as well.
	Armor has a distinct sound. Thus, it should be placed sparingly and far apart, but in a way so that it can be heard throughout most of the level. Jumpboots should be used even more sparingly, and placed in the most unique locations. They should also be placed in areas where their immediate use is preferred so that rhythms of play are created.
	A fifth sound element that must be considered is water. Water in UT is no where as devastating to be caught in as water in other games because fewer weapons are effective underwater, and where you have the up and down control as well. Many players forget that swimming can be done with the jump and crouch buttons, something that I've made a part of Effluvium. Try fighting from the water while treading in it with the jump key held down, and you should gain some tactical advantage. However, water is still detrimental for the most part, and so it should be used to that effect. 
	Other miscellaneous sounds should be considered, such as taking damage from falling, footsteps, jumping, etc. It is less likely that these will be used to cue critical areas, but it isn't out of the question.

7. In general, the main UT weapons have slower fire rate than that of other deathmatch games, and often slower projectile movement as well. This makes it difficult to surprise the enemy with prediction. Thus, tourny level design must allow for an ambusher to fire well before his opponent reaches a critical area, but keep the opponent moving so that by the time he hears the sound of the ambush, it is too late. An example of this in Effluvium is the entrance into the flak room. As one player is caught in the momentum of descending the stairs and collecting the health vials, another player inside the room can time the first and hit him through the doorway in numerous ways even if the descending player is only trying to get the rocket launcher. Therefore, it requires clever changes in momentum to survive because the map creates predictability. Bottom line: UT must make careful use of this because of its slower fire rate.

Tips and Strategies:
To get a headstart on playing hardcore, I've included some strats-

1. The fan might be hard to use at first... try staying in it longer and you'll find that it takes you higher.
2. You shouldn't see your enemy much! Play out his game in you head and be there before he does.
3. Use all the weapons! Aside from perhaps the ripper and the enforcer, every weapon is important. For example, the bio gun is great for blocking an opponent from coming up to challenge your control.
4. Sounds are crucial!!! The pattern of health vials being picked up can tell you where an opponent is headed. The sound of ammo and armor being grabbed at the same time means the opponent is at the enforcer/thigh pads. 
5. The thigh pad in the cooling pool is meant to be difficult to get! Don't get caught with your pants down.
6. Impact hammer for jumping... and elevator defense maybe?


About the Demo:
The demo Effluvium-WarlustPOV was made possible thanks so much to my pal [bp]Encognito. It isn't meant to be a "how to play Effluvium" reel, just an example of what happens when a person controls the top and dominates the game regardless of what the score may show. BTW it was Encog's first match with me on the level so may I just state that I only won against a superior player cuz I knew that map like the back of my hand... Encognito suffered at the bottom so much he complains of the darkness at the end... which is exactly what I wanted! 

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Well, that about wraps up what I have to say for now, thanks for playing and I promise to do better next time! Play this level like a hardcore player and you will find that it will like you better.

If possible, please send comments, questions, flames, feedback, or demos of your matches to me!

Lenchobw@pacbell.net

Visit our temporary website at-

http://steve.emersive.com/php/Sastrugus

Greets:
*Toaster - couldn't have done this without ya!
*Fuze, Encognito, and the rest of [bp] 
*Fragged - who never slept... just like me.....
*DD-XS|Pain- thanks so much for playing, I'm devastated that the demo didn't come out, but that's life I guess. Again, thanks a ton!
*Hadez - For being stubbornly wrong 24/7   =)
*MrMike a.k.a. What[Huh] - For letting me rape him. For testing purposes of course. What? Huh? Who? Eh?
*Sen045 at UMX Palace for Blank.umx... awesome! Go there ppl!
*And my bros Psychogears, Zatoichini, Spawn, and Shiitake down in L.A.

Clan Pronoun!!!

