Date: April 9, 2000

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Title:           Grazer Station
Filename:        map-jlctf1.pk3
Game:            Quake 3 CTF
Author:          Joel Baxter (aka Johnny Law)
Previous work:   None (awww, his first map... how cute...)
Email:           jl@clanplaid.net; if that fails: jbaxter@lemur.stanford.edu
URL:             http://www.clanplaid.net/quake/jlctf1/

Thanks to:       - The denizens of the QBoard and the Quake3World level
                   editing forum, for advice and entertainment.
                 - Iikka Keränen, for the IkbaseQ3 texture set.
                 - Justin Fisher, for the groovy skybox images.
                 - David "Zoid" Kirsch, for Q3 Threewave CTF textures and
                   shaders, and of course for popularizing CTF.
                 - The original author of the Q1 Threewave CTF bolt-and-
                   hammer logos, Brian "Whaleboy" Cozzens.
                 - Mike Jackman (author of TexMex) and Ty Matthews & Neal
                   White III (authors of Wally) for tools for getting the
                   bolt-and-hammer logos into a usable file format.
                 - El Santo Negro of Clan Plaid for taking those old logos
                   and making the "nostalgia logo" panel textures used in the
                   bases.
                 - Dave Eaton II, author of NPherno's MD3 Compiler (which I
                   used to modify the spotlight models).
                 - The various authors of the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation
                   Program), especially Tor Lillqvist for the Windows port.
                 - Clan Plaid for being my "gaming support group".
                 - Everyone who gave me feedback.  I'll probably leave
                   someone out (sorry!), but in alphabetical order that
                   includes altrdst8, Btbl, Cornelius, DrZuess, Frenchy, Kala,
                   keditok, nix, Matt Simpson, and Sliver.  Gracias.
                 - Shadowdane for help with sound file format conversion.
                 - Of course, Robert Duffy, Paul Jaquays, and the rest of id
                   software.

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* Play information *

Deathmatch:           Can be fun sniping a truckload of bots
CTF:                  Yes, 8-14 total players recommended
Bot skirmish support: Yes, although please see jlctf1-bots-readme.txt

To install, place the pk3 file in your baseq3 folder.  If you wish to try
the map out alone or with bots, you can access it through the in-game
Skirmish menu in CTF or FFA mode.  (Alternately, you can start the map with
the command "\map jlctf1" in the console, after setting g_gametype to 0 for
FFA or 4 for CTF.)

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* Random comments *

Setting:         A small planetoid towed into low Jupiter orbit to host
                 a communications and supplies relay post for researchers;
                 abandoned for decades, and with tidal stresses causing
                 dangerous core heating, it's not exactly an OSHA-approved
                 work environment anymore... but it'll do for a game of CTF!

Design notes:    Here's what I was trying to do with this map.  Who knows if
                 I succeeded, but this might explain some things you notice
                 about the map:

                 - First, I was disappointed with the simplicity of the
                 original Q3CTF maps.  As someone who was "raised" playing CTF
                 on the Quake 1 singleplayer maps, I wanted a map that
                 took longer than a few seconds to completely figure out.
                 This is the result.  Still a lot less complicated than some
                 Q1 maps ("Ruins of NeoMinonk" for example), but more involved
                 than, say, Q3CTF1. :-)

                 - I wanted to make a map that had a little more subtle style
                 than the baroque-techno and disco-dungeon looks prominent
                 in Q3.

                 - I tried to design a map that provides many options for
                 offensive and especially defensive approaches, and one that
                 encourages teams to spread out and find different roles if
                 they have the manpower.

                 - I wanted to reward team communication.

                 - I wanted to prevent fast flag run routes, and balance risk
                 and speed considerations among the routes.  Flag routes
                 shouldn't branch in ways that allow FCs to easily shake close
                 pursuit.  There should be bottlenecks in the connectivity
                 between the two halves of the map.  And a FC should not be
                 able to effectively hide from the enemy team by staying in
                 any one spot.  (P.S. though I don't agree with all of the
                 following doc, it's interesting:
                 http://www.planetquake.com/expert/qlevel.html)

                 - I wanted to provide some situations that make weapons other
                 than the RL attractive, but also some situations that
                 encourage rocket-jumping.

                 - I wanted to play with the fun features of Q3. :-)  This
                 includes visuals, of course, but also the way that the
                 removal of the grapple and introduction of jumppads affect
                 combat.  Speaking of which, this map has not been tested
                 with a grapple, and I can think of at least a few ways in
                 which a grapple might be Bad News for gameplay here.  Give
                 it a try if you must, though... might work out OK for all
                 I know.

Player tips:     Thanks for reading the readme. :-)  In return, here's a data
                 dump of useful factoids that might not be immediately
                 obvious.  (Probably best to skip this part for now then come
                 back after you've had a look at the map.)

                 - The ammo on the high center walkways is sometimes RL
                 ammo, sometimes LG ammo.  The powerup is sometimes Quad,
                 sometimes Battle Suit.

                 - There are a few places in the map that use a "force field"
                 that is visible from only one side.  It is always anchored
                 to a certain texture that looks like a light fixture of
                 sorts.  You can shoot through the force field in either
                 direction, but you cannot pass through it.  If you try to
                 approach it from the invisible side, you will just be
                 blocked.  If you approach it from the other side, you will
                 either be blocked (at the tower trapdoor), bounced away
                 (at the sides of the central enclosure), or vaporized
                 (at the top of the central enclosure).  Sorry it's not
                 consistent, but anyway the point is no harm done unless you
                 are trying to rocket jump onto the top of the central
                 enclosure.

                 - All doors throughout the map have the same "handle" graphic
                 on them, and the same general texture.  Once you've found
                 one door, you now know what they all look like.  All doors
                 are two-way except for the door that allows you to drop
                 down onto the RL.  The other doors give you access to the
                 basement and access to a little cache of Stuff in the flag
                 room.

                 - It doesn't hurt to look for ways to take shortcuts with
                 strafe jumps and rocket jumps -- there are plenty.  The only
                 shortcut you REALLY need to know, however, is how to rocket
                 jump from the outside area to a tower deck.  This provides
                 another base access route.  Truly "leet" RJers might be able
                 to do this in one forward jump from the ground below, or one
                 backward jump from the nearest "spatula" elevated walkway,
                 but I find that to be hit-or-miss.  It's easier to do an RJ
                 from the medium-sized cubical light fixture on the ground
                 against the central enclosure wall.  The fastest and most
                 reliable way though is to do a low-impact RJ onto the roof of
                 the "shed" that covers the drop-down to the RL, and then RJ
                 from there to the deck.

                 - In the tower, you'll find a trapdoor that opens to allow
                 you to view the basement below.  You can stand on, and shoot
                 through, the force field that covers the opening.  Anyone
                 below can also shoot at you but they will not be able to see
                 you.  If you push the button on the far wall of the tower,
                 a green light will appear around the trapdoor and the force
                 field will release, allowing you to drop down into the
                 basement (don't hit the lava!).  The green light will turn
                 red 2 seconds before the force field returns.  Don't get
                 caught halfway through the opening when the force field
                 returns -- it's nasty.

                 - One more note about the tower.  On the way out to the
                 sniper deck, you don't have to jump over the hole in the
                 deck.  Just run forward and the trim on the floor will pop
                 you over the hole.

                 - In the base, use the tilted jump pad just by running
                 straight forward onto its lower part.  Nothing fancy
                 required.  Sorry if you find this confusing at first... I had
                 to cut back on the active area of this pad to avoid some
                 "misfire" jumps.

                 - The jump pads on the floor of the base can be used to reach
                 the yellow armor or the flag if you're careful.  Approach
                 them from the side near the platform you're trying to reach,
                 and as soon as they activate, press forward or backward to
                 guide yourself away from the "natural" destination and toward
                 the armor or flag.  You'll probably need to strafe some too.
                 This is tough... not sure if it's a useful trick "under
                 fire".

                 - Speaking of tough tricks, it's possible to strafe-jump from
                 the flag platform onto the tilted jump pad.

                 - If you hang around in the basement for a while, you'll hear
                 and see some stuff happen.  This is randomized a little so
                 I wouldn't recommend trying to use this event to precisely
                 time anything like powerup respawns.

                 - Remember that in Q3, thin walls/floors transmit splash
                 damage...

                 - Finally, in case you didn't notice: there's more than one
                 way out of the basement.  Try the "elevator" at the back.

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* Map specs *

Base:                 None; new map from scratch
New sounds:           One id sound modified for lower volume; three public
                      domain sounds (modified a little)
New graphics:         Yes; see the credits above, plus textures and shaders
                      created or modified by me
Editor:               Q3Radiant 1.81 and 1.97
Build time:           A few minutes here & there spread over about 3 months
Brush count:          3515
Entity count:         459
Max polygons in view: approx. 8000 *
Imagelist size:       approx. 3 Mtexels **
Compile machine:      P3-733, 128 MB
Compile time:         approx. 6.5 hours

* This is the max r_speeds value with gun display enabled, 3D icons, 3D
items, and high detail geometry.
** This is the imagelist size at r_picmip 1 (2nd-highest texture quality).

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* Known issues *

There are four warning messages about G_PickTarget printed to the console
when you start the map.  I know exactly what the cause is, and in this
particular case those messages are guaranteed harmless.

There are some visual blurps here and there, mainly lighting mismatches that
I can't seem to get rid of and minor cases of The Sparklies that don't
respond to the usual treatment.  Nothing you'll probably notice, so I won't
tell where they are. :-)  Sparklies seemed to increase after I switched to
using the leaked 5.x NVidia reference drivers.  May be driver problems, may
be map problems, but not worth the trouble to worry about.

If you examine the skybox closely you can see seams where the sides meet.
This is NOT a fault of the excellent skybox images provided for me; this is,
as far as I can tell, a problem with the Q3 engine.

If you're a spectator and you try to go through the wind tunnel leading to the
tower, there's a chance (for some reason) that you will be pushed "outside the
map".

You cannot block open the door over an RL drop-down.  If you're standing there
when it wants to close, it will chop up and down rapidly and you had best move
elsewhere.  This is an unavoidable consequence of making a reliable one-way
door with Q3's slightly bogus doors-and-triggers features.  It's fine with me
I suppose... I don't really want players to be able to hold that door open
anyway. 

Finally... the bots.  Sigh.  Check out jlctf1-bots-readme.txt if you want to
play bot skirmishes (and if you would not rather be happy in your ignorance of
the problems). :-)

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* Copyright / Permissions *

All graphics and sounds in this archive remain property of their respective
owners; they are used here with permission.

The author reserves all rights to the contents of this archive (pk3 and text
file) not superceded by prior claims and not waived in this document.  The
modified public domain sounds are an exception; they shall remain public
domain.

You may of course make this map available on a Q3 game server, and you may
install it for a Q3 client to play the map alone or on a game server.

You may make this archive available as a free download, or freely
distribute it on some recording medium (such as a CD-ROM), provided that the
entire contents of this archive are present and unmodified.  If any fee is
being charged for access, bandwidth, media cost, use of content, or any
other purpose specifically related to the distribution of this archive, you
MUST first contact the author and receive permission.

You may not use this map as a base for creating other works without 
permission from the author.

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