“Don’t Touch Me!” is a medium-sized Marathon Infinity network map — could be considered small if you play ‘King of the Hill,’ or perhaps large if you play ‘Every Man for Himself’ or ‘Kill the Man with the Ball.’ The level contains liquid, but still plays very well on ‘Kill the Man with the Ball’ — elevators or teleporters will help the ball-laden out of their dire strait...
Basically built around a giant, central, raised octagon (‘Big Rotunda’ in Map view), “Don’t Touch Me!” offers several different vertical concerns/angles with which to worry, as well as a good deal of jumping to get around the map in style (or ‘alive’). It has an unusual hill in that access is limited to making jumps to get there (the exception: riding a dangerous elevator out of goo at the back of the hill), and, once there, the ‘King’ must contend with fire from at least six directions, many (but not all) of them on the King’s left...
Included are net films of ‘KOH’ mode, which reveal many (but not all) methods for getting around this map. Special ‘FILM’ thanks go to Thom Holmberg (“Chinese Jet Pilot” in the film), who pretty much wiped up the arena with us, and to Chip Aaron (“Pfhor’s Kin” in the film), who didn’t win but tallied some of the most ‘kewl’ and wicked kills nonetheless. (I was supposed to be “Tour Guide Man,” but wound up getting sucked into the KOH play and not showing very much of the map at all... and managed to get lots of SPNKRs in my ear — WHOOPS!) Oh, the person with the farthest ‘death-skid’ from the hill to the back of the map into the goo deserves some kind of badge of honor. Good luck beating the skids in the films... {sigh}
Aliens in the map are fun when played with as many as three people, adding some danger and spice to the dark areas. They consist mainly of troopers (grenades are important here) and various exploda-BOBs, who sneak up on you and ruin that kewl shot and maybe your day... They are abundant enough to be a serious nuisance, thin enough that good players can play through or around them.
UPDATE 3/18/97: This version (1.1) updates player positions, aligns a few textures, speeds up all doors and elevators, and shaves just over 1 world unit of distance off the long corridor (‘Marathon Way’ in Map View) which should help speed up frame rates in this area. Also, we remade the net KOH films which accompany this download (if you have a previous film, it will no longer work with this map). [Thanks for ‘update’ feedback go to Steve Campbell of the Hyperarchive Midwest and his crew of CyberWorx guys — 3/18/97]
HINT: Staying alive and winning involves knowing the fastest ways around the map, such as where all the jumps are — what you can reach and what you cannot (see film for help with this), and, in “KTMWTB” games, knowing the water tunnels. Also, in general, simply avoiding aliens will help in net games... Oh, and I wouldn't bother with the recharger.
THANKS: to Thom “Spam” Holmberg and Chip “Wilbur” Aaron at Texas.net for play-testing and lots of advice. More large thanks to Tuncer Deniz, Alex Rosenberg, Jason Jones, Ryan Martell, Alain Roy, and Jason Regier (Bungie) for great work on a wonderful game. Thanks also to Randy Reddig, Chris Geisel and Greg Kirkpatrick (DoubleAught), Randall Shaw (at IFX) and all the people responsible for Marathon Infinity (and its killer maps). Also thanks to Laurent Stanevich for making wacky, clever net maps that push the envelope a bit.
Thanks also to Claude Errera’s succesor (Simon Brownlee) at the new HyperArchive for helping us with all these damn maps, and for trying to keep the HyperArchive open all night, every night (hope it opens back up soon). Also thanks to his peer, Steve Campbell, doing a similar thankless job at the HyperArchive Midwest at Pull My Finger. Cheers!
The usual request, e-mail me any spiffy net films you generate with this map, especially with lots of players. ENJOY all the shooting!
Carl A. Lineberry
dakril@texas.net
P.S. HEY, if you have not yet downloaded the awesome net-map-pack “Coriolis Loop” from the good fellows at DoubleAught, you are missing a lot of clever map and game ideas — honest, and no foolin’.
P.P.S. This level is named for a song from the Cartoon Planet Band, “Don’t Touch Me,” sung by Brak, a character who may be the funniest thing on cable this year... check him and Space Ghost out on Fridays at Turner’s “Cartoon Network.” No, really.
