NEWS FLASH! Chuck Pritzel (Snakeeyes) creates Worthy DM map called DM-GhostShip

Woooooooooo, a complicated map. DOH!

As for the rest of us, 'We're not worthy. We're not worthy." I have mixed feelings about this map. Why? I'm in the process of making a similar map, but it won't turn out nearly as 'Epic.' Thanks, Chuck, it gives me a good excuse to abandon mine and start anew.

In his Readme file, Chuck credits himself with knowing the difference between 'Their, There, and They're.' You forgot 'To, Too, and Two'Ö 'Were, We're'Ö 'Your, You're' and all the other misspellings that tend to crop up "alot" (did that one on purpose) with the uneducated, or lazy. Well, Snakeeyes is not lazy. You'll experience custom textures, and some of the coolest scripting around.

You're on a spaceship! The story line goes something like this, and I'm paraphrasing: You have this entity 'who/that' is on the rampage, distraught over the technology of this vessel, which it considers evil and imprisoning its 'friends.' The spacecraft becomes abandoned, and the entity (let's call it something elusive and scaryÖ.likeÖ.Bob) now utilizes the converted warp core as food. Look, I didn't come up with this stuff, he did. But whatever is supposed to be going on, it's a trip. Bob drags you across space and time, wellÖthe space inside the vessel for a scripted amount of time, to a point where you'll eventually become nauseous. Just when you thought you were top-cop, this roaming 'IT' picks you up and waltzes you around the room AGAIN, shaking your security blanket loose, then setting you down with nothing but an air hammer and an amazed look in your eye. After the "What the Hell was that!?!" wears off, you better get cracking, looking for something substantial to gib with. I love it! The warp core, now a singularity, (A point in space with infinite mass and infinity small that will stretch you out like spaghetti if you fall into one. [See Black Hole] Physics lesson over.) will 'whup upside your head one time' if you have any 'powerups.' Special antigravity boots are supposed to make you immune to the affects of the singularity, but they scripted my butt into nothingness just the same.

The connectivity is remarkable. I just wished the bots would use the Bridge area more, and the area directly under the Bridge. I noticed only one bot use transportation kicker up to the Bridge. The vertical fighting is great, and there are nicely-shaped open areas connected by even more nicely-shaped hallways. 'Kickers' boot you out into the arena if you spawn there, just in case you were feeling apprehensive about getting your feet wet. And 'wet feet' you'll think you have as you slide down the narrow cubbyholes that were zoned to be slightly slippery. A skybox containing a mover!?! Go on, you're making the rest of us look bad.

The textures used are mostly from the default package Starship with a custom 'SnakeShip' package thrown in for good measure. The Starship package is difficult to work with; selecting proper lighting seems to be the key. This vessel has the look of abandonment, as the lighting clearly demonstrates, keeping with the theme. Other texturing techniques were used such as special lit, unlit, panning, and whatever else this creative genius could think of.

Lighting was top-notch: Snakeeyes went to all the trouble of placing colored lights around monitors, and giving them a radii of 3 just so it appears to our wandering eyes, natural. Lighting inside the craft creates the correct ambiance, and outside the vessel, (as you watch the stars whiz by at light-speed) they are magnificent as well. I could go on about the lighting, but this is already turning into War and Peace.

Sounds abound, adding to the total experience, but no CD tunes. I am wondering if Chuck decided not to include music for a reason. Perhaps he wanted us to hear all the ambient stuff, but he should have taken everybody's weapon away if he was going for that. So many people like some music to heighten the experience when they play, so it makes my job harder when I attempt to score this puppy. Just pop in your own tunes and forget about it.

Now, I have another dilemma. With the new rating system that was recently implemented, I have to consider how well the bots perform. This includes several things, but relevant to this level, is how well they utilize the territory. In a couple places, (the Bridge, and the area directly below the Bridge) the bots do not visit unless they as dragged there by Bob. We're talkin' almost never! You could park your butt in these places and be reasonably assured that when you get back from vacation, you'd still be camping there safe and sound. I'm exaggerating a little, but you get the point. Since most fraggers aren't equipped with a cable connection, they end up playing against AI and this is where the problem lies: You find yourself either fighting for your life against the new rock group called 'Bob and the Bots' in the middle of the craft, or catching your breath having coffee on the Bridge. This and one other thing keeps this map from a perfect score: Chuck didn't set his encroach damage on his movers. He made a couple of movers to crush you if you're in their way, but not the bots. Listen up mappers, I will say this again: You have to specify the encroach damage, or the bots will not be harmed while the player will become giblets. If you don't believe me, make a simple test level and trap a bot and trigger a mover to crush them. Try it first without any encroach damage (you'll see the mover pass right through them) then with 200 for a damage amount. If you mappers are doing this on purpose to give the bots an advantage, knock the crap off!! If we need more of a challenge, we'll adjust the bots to God-like.

Final Notes: This level would be great for playing online. If you do, neglect the score I've given it, and give it a 10. Oh, and the game screenshot must 'not' be Scottish, because 'IT'S CRAP!!!' Doesn't do the map justice.

Also be aware that this self-extracting file has a 'manifest' file included that will replace the manifest file in the UT System directory. If you want to keep the original manifest file, move it into a temporary directory and then back when you're finished, if necessary.