        Avatar3, Avatar's Rocket Arenas

        Avatar3 is my third 5 level deathmatch pack. Avatar1 and 2 are both
for DOOM2. I didnt create another 5 level pack until now because I didnt
really like Quake's 1 on 1 deathmatch compared to DOOM's. In general, Avatar1
and 2 focused on the 1 on 1 element, and I didnt feel I could capitalize on
that in Quake without resorting to item/weapon hoarding based strategems.

        Rocket Arena changed all that by putting the focus simply on weapon
and map skill, rather than timing it so you'd be on the Quad right when it
appeared. Unfortunately, after finishing the 3rd map and getting half way
through an eventually-aborted 4th map, I shifted my focus to TargetQuake.
Thus Avatar3 arrives just a bit too late for Quake. I probably wouldn't have
finished the pack at all had Rocket Arena itself not denied the maps inclusion
in their Final Arena pack. I try to take my maps in a more skill over ping
direction, whereas most all of the chosen Rocket Arena maps give great
advantage to the players with the best net connections. Had it not been for
great skill based maps like Edge of Insanity, I probably wouldn't have been
inspired to make this pack at all. Its a shame Rocket Arena does not see the
attraction of maps such as Edge, I hope they're more accepting of strategic
maps in the future.

        Each map uses two individual textures of my own, usually in
combination with id textures. I've also continued the tradition I started
with Avatar1 and 2 of signing an out of the way texture in each level. Find
all 5! Each map (that has water) supports gl transparent water.

        Since this is just a 5 map package, the files aren't locked up in
a .pak file. Just put them in your quake\ra\maps or quake\id1\maps directory
and you're ready to go. Servers, use Avatar3.cfg to rotate through the
five of them. Questions and comments should be directed to avatar@canweb.net.
Be sure to check out wendigo and I's Quake movie, Blahbalicious, at
http://www.planetquake.com/blah and my Quake partial conversion, Target
Quake, at http://avatar.telefragged.com.

        Nifty notes about the maps individually:

        Archaic Arena: No, the see-through parts of the upper spectator
        area bars aren't bugs, they're FEATURES brought to you by virtue
        of Worldcraft. A neat part is that the spectators can chop you
        through the "teeth" with their axe. Haha!

        Bridge Over the River Quake: Coincidentally, the second level of
        Avatar2 (Great Bridge) was about a bridge. The importance of
        altitude is emphasized in this level as even little gains
        translate to greater frags. A last minute recompile resulted in
        one of the bridge supports making a mysterious disappearence. Argh.
        
        Spectator Sport: Avatar3's maps vary in complexity. This is more
        of a standard fare rocket arena map, but as the name implies there's
        a little bit more slipped under the table. This map is the basic
        idea I had wanted with Avatar1's 3rd level, FragMan, but you couldn't
        have slanted floors in DOOM.

        Stone Cold: This is one of my first experiments with widely divergent
        clipping based brushes. Has a nice "fighting in a canyon" feel and
        captures the King of the Hill feeling Rocket Arena (and Avatar2
        map3) is about. For some reason the "transparent" water on this
        map is fuxored. Recompiled it with both wqbsp and treebsp with
        transparent water and got the same wack results.

        R_speeds Be Damned: Like the 5th level of Avatar2 (Visplane), this
        map's title corrosponds to a techincal problem I was having while
        making it. This is closer to the idea I started designing Stone
        Cold around, but my excessive clipping turned the face count against
        me.

        Thanks to: Blue for assuring me another Avatar pack was worth doing,
        thanks to Preacher for insight on fade distances with Arghlite
        (helped the last two levels a lot). And thanks in advance to any
        servers that run these maps!

        Permissions: Dont sell them and you're ok with me. Send me a copy
        of any nifty cds or whatever you put these on.

                                                                -*Avatar*-
