I actually wrote out an entire post with screenshots and everything about the map then when I clicked submit it told me I had to log in after I was already logged in and I lost the entire post. I will copy this one before submitting just in case
The map has some very high vantage points but the fun of it is, there is virtually no fall damage. Most every texture in the game I made a shader so that no fall damage with be dealt.
A lot of thought has gone into the map and the map has a lot of history, to make the explanation short and simple. The design now is much different that when it started I think in 2005. I came back to it maybe a couple years ago just for fun and now it has become a beast of a map and it's very close to being finished. (I could only imagine what would happen if a hide and go seek game broke out in this map. The "seekers" may never find the "hiders" lol).
Made for JK2 1.02 primarily. I think it has the potential to be one of the best maps ever made for JK2, not because of it being ultra realistic like Blueice Nightfall for JK3 (which I find boring, no offense, just watch the trailer. Blueice is a master work for sure however, in the trailer, you see a guy walking around slowly, opening doors and looking at stuff. Yeah, it looks incredible but personally I find it boring.) This map was made to be fun and interesting. Each area, I tried to place some elements that would keep players coming back to enjoy.
Shroomduck maps on the other hand are quite the contrary. Shroom's maps are built for fun but aren't exactly realistic and a little on the "blocky" side. The Temple of Mechanism is somewhere in between. This map does incorporate some elements from the Forest House as well that Ook made and I helped expand and complete. The waterfall in the main area, bar elements, a scaled up version of the entrance light to the Forest house, arcade games and a tram system. (the tram in this map is quite different but the idea is the same as the Forest House). Also, one piece of Khomm from the Shroomduck map pack was introduced as the start point of the tram which actually worked quite nicely for this area. There are actually pieces from a few maps I made which were introduced into this map, gutted and redesigned. Most notably Khomm, but others were forest House, Bingstation, Arrow jumps from The Search for Animal Jedi, the rancor and clips for the rancor from a WIP, Rancor Rampage I was working on in the past as well as some elements from Binger's Bespin also a work in progress. The small outhouses from the original Outhouse map are in there. The dojo from bespin ruins expanded for use in Binger's Bespin then re-textured and redesigned for the Temple of Mechanism. And there are some elements from a map one of the LM founders made back in 2003 or something in the council area. The council area also has a couple elements from Binger's Bespin (formally known as Bespin traps expanded into what it is in it's current WIP state as Binger's Bespin).
Originally it was made as a sequel to "The Outhouse" (a clan map for Leveling Mechanism I made when I was the leader of the clan for around 3-4 years). It has been totally redesigned with only a couple elements remaining from the original Temple of Mechanism. It's huge but there are elements in the map to get you where you want to go quickly. It's not a clan map anymore but there are a couple things I placed in the map as an homage to the old clan.
Last night I even stumbled onto something I thought was really great to see. I noclipped outside of the map and was looking in and it really looked cool from the outside.
Also, in the original Outhouse map, I made a mini golf course, so it was only fitting to expand the idea into a full 18 hole thermal adventure golf course!
I plan on making it open source when finished, and not just allow people to open the map file and learn from it...but to modify it and personalize it as necessary (all I ask is that I am given some credit and the map name be different (ex. The Temple of Boothand). I will also be making a texture mod so a map editor doesn't need to be used to personalize the map. There are a many textures that can be personalized for the map to make it into a clan map for any clan just replacing some textures in a mod for the map.
There will also be some RPG stuff that can be changed in the same way. There are some journal entries that as a whole tells some of the backstory for the temple's origination (not clan related stuff but ancient force journals) which can be changed to whatever is needed.
I did release a v.9 of the map back in May of this year but there have been many changes since then and I believe the changes have only made the map better.
I would love to get as many people as possible to give it a proper test online. It would be great to test it out with others by this weekend if possible. One thing about making the map is that I have a slow computer and a map like Blueice Nightfall, my fps drops to maybe 8 fps without bots or anything which pretty much makes Blueice unplayable for me. The lowest fps I get in this map is in the high 40's to low 50's, throw 12 bots in and my computer will still run it with a low of maybe 30 fps with a small dip into the high 20's. Some of you guys with gaming computers may not even get less than 90 fps in the entire map, the fps optimization should make a good gaming experience for anyone.
I hope everyone likes the map as much as I do. Keep you're eyes peeled for a final version soon
