Marathon: Istoria - Mapping Time-lapse [Map 10: Armageddon Games]

This is a time-lapse video showing the creation of the final level of Marathon: Istoria, Armageddon Games. As I mentioned in the last video, a few people have suggested I try streaming my mapping process over the years. While I don't think that would be particularly interesting given how slowly I draw and redraw things, it got me thinking about making videos like this. I periodically took screenshots as I drew the outline of this level -- a process I repeated for most Istoria maps, as well as many of my newer multiplayer maps.
ISTORIA SPOILERS BELOW
Armageddon Games is the last level of Istoria before the player begins the final escape sequence of the game. As such, I wanted this level to stand apart from the rest. It is drawn totally on-grid, featuring no rock formations (definitely no basalt columns), only the corridors and rooms of an ancient subterranean Jjaro base are accessible. Toxic green goo makes its only appearance here, a callback to M1 pfhor goo. The layout features three paths that can be taken in any order, but the order the player chooses can also change the map itself.
The final arena/AI room took a while to design, as I initially wanted to avoid a generic square/symmetrical layout. But this area needed to serve several purposes: it had to host several waves of enemies, including a flame IADD, both which require a ton of wide open space. I had to fit 5 control rods and a moat of goo somewhere. I wanted a gangway to lead up to a second walkway that took you around the perimeter of the arena and into the AI room. Because of all of this, I ended up settling on a simpler rectangular room after all, and I think the result works well. The "U" design of the room allows for limited sight-lines when the player first enters, and is the perfect place to use all those black hole spells they've definitely been hoarding. :P
Several elements of Armageddon Games pay homage to original trilogy maps. Taking path B leads the player to a juggernaut battle over a large pool of goo, reminiscent of All Roads Lead to Sol. Taking path C leads the player to a partially-submerged sewage corridor, much like the start of Aye Mak Sicur. The elevators at the southern end of the map are inspired by similar elevators seen in Ne Cede Malis.
Development of Armageddon Games took place from August - October, 2022, though work was paused in September while I worked on the sixth edition of my multiplayer map pack, Imperium.
Marathon: Istoria is available now:
On ModDB: [www.moddb.com/mods/marathon-i...]
On Lochnits: [lochnits.com/marathon/istoria/]
Simplici7y page: [simplici7y.com/items/marathon...]
Download Aleph One to play: [alephone.lhowon.org/download....]
Featured song: "Tainted Source" from the Istoria OST by Jon Irons: • irons - istoria soundt...
Istoria Soundtrack is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. [creativecommons.org/licenses/...]

[@sphtpfhorbrains3592]

Awesome stuff! Gonna have to get round to playing Istoria now over Christmas.

[@windbreaker1701]

Sweet. Hope you like it!

[@thesaturdaynightcomfyexpre4471]

Cool to watch this. Marathon mapping videos are severely lacking on youtube. Would you ever consider doing tutorial videos of mapping?

[@TheFieryWind99]

Seconded