#300baud Entropy set - a D3 mission from 300baud Productions   (Version 1.0)

Completion Date: October 26, 1999

Project Lead: Sirian

Designers: Sirian, Karash, Arsentia, donut

Editor: D3edit versions 0.9 and 0.92

Mission Statement: To produce a definitive, precedent-setting mission of levels optimized for the D3 Entropy mod, with a target game size of eight players (four per team).

Mission Parameters: No Black Sharks. No Invulnerability. No Lag-inducing Tertiaries (Chaff, Bettys, Seekers). No levels heavy on EMD or Mega Missiles. All levels compatible with the CTF mod. All levels optimized for weapon respawn times between 30 and 60 seconds (depending on the size of the game). All levels compartmentalized as much as possible, to reduce lag and allow for larger games (Vis). All levels textured and lit professionally. All levels free of any shell errors. Minimum 16 total start points per level. Each level to feature one or more primaries and/or secondaries by making plenty of them available. Each level to leave out one or more primaries and/or secondaries to create a variety of tactical situations and gameplay flavors throughout the mission set. Each level to vary the number and type and placement of Entropy bases to further a variety of tactical situations and gameplay flavors throughout the mission set. All level scripts to be compiled for Linux as well as Windows to provide script functionality on any PXO dedicated servers, rather than only some of them. All levels thoroughly and rigorously beta tested, tweaked, and optimized.


3BE is:

Level One:    "Face Off"         by Sirian
Level Two:    "Iron Maiden"      by Karash
Level Three:  "Halogen"          by Arsentia
Level Four:   "Siege Maxius"     by Sirian
Level Five:   "Viral Bunker"     by Sirian
Level Six:    "Ore Processing"   by donut
Level Seven:  "Top Dog"          by Sirian
Level Eight:  "Mementomori"      by Karash
Level Nine:   "Divided We Fall"  by Sirian

Load Screens - by Arsentia
Documents    - by Sirian


Contents of file "3be.zip" include:

3be.mn3                  (the mission)
3be.txt                  (this file)
3be-designers-notes.doc  (devnotes from the authors)
3be-level-stats.doc      (comparative level info)
3be-server-guide.doc     (recommendations for optimal games for this mission)
3be-tips-n-tactics.doc   (ongoing advice document -- updates available at our website)


300baud Productions

Design Team founded by Sirian and Karash
Hosted by PlanetDescent at http://www.planetdescent.com


Contact Us:

<sirian23@earthlink.net>  Sirian
<brownjc@okstate.edu>     Karash
<wfok@planetdescent.com>  Arsentia
<donut@azstarnet.com>     donut


Legal Stuff:

Face Off, Siege Maxius, Viral Bunker, Top Dog, Divided: Copyright 1999 Bob Thomas
Iron Maiden, Mementomori: Copyright 1999 Joe Brown
Halogen: Copyright 1999 Wesley Fok
Ore Processing: Copyright 1999 Matt Mueller
#300baud Entropy and all associated documents: Copyright 1999 300baud Productions

You may not use the levels of this mission set, nor any part of them (including rooms or fixtures) for any purpose, without the written permission of the applicable author(s).

You may distribute this mission set freely over any electronic medium, so long as you include this text file and all accompanying documents listed above, and so long as you do not charge any fees for access; you may not "sell" the mission as part of any for-profit venture.


Mission History:

First-ever game of 3BE was played in Face Off at the summer 99 Steel City LAN event in Pittsburgh, PA, on July 30, 1999. Blue Team (Sirian, Tiny, and Serpent7) prevailed over Red Team (Solo, Melvin and Yubb) completing an Entropy takeover in about one hour. The game was made possible by last minute level fixes done for us by Gwar, with D3edit features not yet available even to D3edit beta testers (meaning Sirian, in this case).

3BE was initially going to contain five levels (Face Off, Iron Maiden, Top Dog, Mementomori, and Siege Maxius), but then 300baud Productions was formed, and Arsentia was invited to contribute, upping the ante to six levels (adding Halogen). Donut and fathom each volunteered to do a level, upping the total to eight. Donut completed most of his level's structure and texturing, and Sirian offered some feedback at various points, then ultimately took over the completion of the level (Ore Processing) when college started for donut and ate up his availability. Sirian did the D3L assembly, texture alignments, lighting, sounds and object placement for Ore Processing, using donut's rooms, then donut did the final tweaks and polishing. Fathom had to bow out for the same reasons, but we hope to include his level in 3B4T (#300baud Four-Teams mission set). That left 3BE at seven levels. Sirian came up with the unique idea for Divided We Fall after completing his original commitment of three levels. That brought the mission back up to eight levels, and that was where it stood at the time the first RC (release candidate) was assembled. Beta testing was conducted extensively during September, and then the feedback was gathered and further modifications took place. Sirian and donut completed modifications to their levels (Halogen was the only level so perfect that it didn't get a single change after the beta test period), but Karash's availability thinned out for a while and on top of that, his levels were undergoing the most dramatic upgrades. So while waiting on Karash, Sirian got another idea for an Entropy level, and churned the entire level out from conception to completion in three days (Viral Bunker). Experience combined with a more refined editor (we all started this project with D3edit 0.9) allowed Sirian to function at a considerably more efficient pace than he was able to at the beginning of the project. Karash completed his upgrades, and that set the final release at nine levels: five by Sirian, two by Karash, one by Arsentia and one by donut. Karash had a third level on the drawing board, but because of running late with his first two, decided to adapt that level for another mission set. Jeff Slutter from Outrage wrote a custom query not available in DALLAS to enable Sirian to complete the level script for Divided We Fall, which took place after the initial beta testing. SolidAir compiled the level scripts (for Divided and Viral) into Windows, and Jeff compiled the Linux versions. We asked ZappaFan for advice on the handling of URLs for autodownload, then Sirian and Karash together assembled all the pieces into one mission, complete with documents, and verified the files for the release of 3BE.

We hope that you enjoy this mission for months, if not years, to come.



Appreciation:

Thanks to the Archive sites that are hosting this mission for autodownload in-game.

Thanks to Bash, fathom, Karash and spud for providing servers during beta testing.

Thanks to all our beta testers and everyone who helped make this mission better.

Special Thanks to Chris Ledwith and Jeff Slutter from Outrage Entertainment, for assisting with a variety of issues, including level editing, level scripting, and beta testing.
