================================================================
Title                   : The Living Planet
Version                 : 1.0
Release Date            : October 6, 1999
Filename                : livingplanet.zip
Author(s)               : David "Kyp Durron" Pittman
Email Address           : davidlp013@aol.com
Web Page                : http://www.unrealnation.net/cms/
Description             : Single-player level with a cool story.  
Where to get this map   : http://www.unrealnation.net/cms/livingplanet.zip
Other levels by author  : Portions of CMS: Shadows of Na Pali and
                          CMS2: Apocalypse Threat
Additional Credits to   : Kyle "Striker" for his input on the level

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--- Play Information ---
Game                    : Unreal
Level Name              : The Living Planet
Single Player           : Yes
Cooperative             : No
Deathmatch              : No
Dark Match              : No
Difficulty Settings     : Yes
New Sounds              : Yes
New Music               : No
New Graphics            : Yes
NewUnrealScript         : No
External DLLs           : No
Known bugs              : Lots, see Author's Notes below.

--- Construction ---
Editor(s) used          : UnrealEd Beta
Base                    : New level
Construction Time       : I wasn't counting, but I'd estimate 80 hours.

Installation
------------
After unzipping the files, place LivingPlanet.unr in your Unreal maps
directory.  Place ExProj.utx in your textures directory, and place
ExProj.uax in your sounds directory.  (If you're using a normal Zip
program, it should place them there anyway.)

Double-click on LivingPlanet.unr to run the level, or open Unreal and
type "open livingplanet" in the console.

Extended description:
--------------------

NOTE: This is long, but bear with me.  It will make the level more
enjoyable if you know what's going on.

"Colin Marsh, the famed 31st century scientist, had recently begun
conducting an experiment in teleportation across massive distances.
While small portals between rooms had existed for decades, no one had
yet created a stable portal between two planets.  Marsh discovered a
new method that he believed wwould allow for safe, instantaneous travel
across many light years.  The only drawback was that his system was
one-way.

"Marsh decided to go through the portal himself.  If it worked, he
would send a satellite message back to his friends, and they would come
help him rig a portal back.  The destination Marsh chose was a peaceful
world known as the Living Planet.  The entire planet was a huge life-
form, with every tree, every root, ultimately connecting to the heart
of the Planet.

"But (wouldn't you know it) something went wrong.  Though Colin Marsh
made it safely to the Living Planet, a virus from deep space also
followed him to the point of entry.  The natives of the Living Planet,
unused to disease, fell quickly to the virus.  Marsh was resistant to
its power and tried in vain for several days to cure the natives.
But while he spent his time with the small people, the virus was
attacking a much larger being; the planet itself.

"Starting from the spongy pink mesh at the surface, the virus began
infecting its way towards the heart of the planet.  The ground grew red
and inflamed, and the mountains began deforming from the strength of
the virus.  As the virus ate towards the core, it left the natives
alone, and Colin Marsh was able to rest and think about what to do.

"Marsh sent an emergency message back to Earth, and his team soon
arrived to build the return portal.  But while they were working on it,
the mountains opened up, and a wave of mutated creatures began
atacking the crew.  The natives helped Marsh to fend them off while the
workers doubled their efforts to build the portal.  Finally, taking a
few small creatures with them in hopes of finding a biological cure,
the science team lept back through the portal and triggered it to
self-destruct behind them."

The young marine looked up at the tall, aged man briefing him and
yawned.

"So I get to go back to a diseased world and try to kill something that
lives about two miles underground and is strong enough to eat a planet.
Great."

The older man glared down at him.  This boy was quite a rebel, but he
had real talent when it came to fighting, which is why he'd been chosen
as the one person to go back to the Living Planet and wipe out the
virus.

"I'd suggest you go gear up, son.  And don't forget to speak with Marsh
in the portal lab.  He'll fill you in on where our bio-lab is located."

The young man stood up, saluted, and left the room in silence.  This
wasn't going to be easy...

Author's Notes
--------------
I like this level a lot more than the ones I did for Apocalypse Threat,
probably because I had more time to work on this one and fine-tune it.
The Living Planet is sort of a cross between Xen from Half-life and
Malacandra from C.S. Lewis's "Out of the Silent Planet".  I'd always
wanted to make an alien world, and I think this turned out very nice.

The first part of the level is a generic Nali homestead.  It's kinda
simple, but bear with it, as the level takes a unique turn halfway
through.  The Living Planet itself required some new textures, as
Unreal is lacking in the slimy alien department, so I made some new
ones.  They're pretty simple, but they get the point across.

The final battle within the diseased planet is very bizarre...it's
nothing like I originally planned, but it worked out great.  Just be
careful of some instant death traps, or save frequently.  Or...if you
absolutely must...cheat.  Bah.

Now, about the bugs...there are lots of little errors in this level.
First and foremost, though not really a bug, this level runs slow as
molasses.  It hitches constantly on my P2 300 w/ 64 MB RAM, so anything
less will be pretty dang hard to play.  Still, it's not so bad that it
causes Unreal to crash...I've seen levels do that before, but it
shouldn't happen here.

The other glaring error in this level is clipping problems.  You know
how portions of a large plane will sometimes get cut away when viewed
from a great distance?  Well, those problems are all over this level,
particularly near the end.  The only reason I can find is my excessive
use of imported geometry, which always chokes up Unreal.  It shouldn't
cause any collision problems, though, as I used a high quality BSP
optimization.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the level.  Go frag some Skaarj!

Copyright / Permissions
-----------------------
Map, textures, and sounds are © 1999 Crescent Moon Software.

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.

----------------------
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