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THIS LEVEL IS NEITHER MADE BY OR SUPPORTED BY 3D REALMS. 

Title                 : The Human Stain
Filename              : Humnstin.map
Author                : RaveFury
E-mail                : MattFrey[at]hotmail.com
Web Page              : None
Misc. Author Info     : I'm a 22-year-old reporter disillusioned with                
           current video games. So I've returned to a true 			classic - DN3D.

Description           : This level introduces what I hope is a new 				concept: the
single player Dukematch. I know that 			fake multiplayer in Duke 3D is nothing new,
but 			this level was created and optimized specifically 			for that purpose.
Included are three .bat files. 			Assuming you installed the game to the C-drive  
			in a folder marked "Duke3d," clicking into one of 			these files will begin a
simulated Dukematch. 				"TheDuel.bat" is a Dukematch with four bots,
				"TheFury.bat" is one with eight, and 					"TheChaos.bat" is my favorite - a
simulated 				Dukematch with 12 bots and 12 respawning 				Octabrains. Frags
o'plenty!

			The Human Stain contains very few health items 				and only bullet weapons - no
bombs, freeze rays 			or shrinkers. It's all about sniping with the 				pistol or
tearing 'em up at close range with the 			shotgun or chaingun. There are a few
secrets and 			a trip bomb trap that looks kind of useless at 				first, until you
realize it's not really about 				the bombs at all...
			
			The frag rate on this one is phenomenal. On 				"TheChaos" setting, in five
minutes, there are 				usually 545 kills total. That's about 1.8 				frags a second.
So rarely will you live long 				enough to run out of ammo. :)

					      Story:

			Society has a difficult time accepting what it 				cannot see, hear or touch. But
that doesn't mean 			such things don't exist. When we die, our "being" 			lives on,
finally freed from their earthly 				vestals. Most continue to exist comfortably
				elsewhere. But the most inhuman of us - those who 			have lost any shred of
humanity they may have 				once had - find themselves in a wholly different
			situation.

			Welcome to Soul Arena, where the dead go to die. 			Looks, race and gender are
forgotten and all 				physical bodies are exact copies of one of the 				greatest
warriors the Earth has ever known. 				Reborn with gun in hand, these unfortunate
souls 			are locked in eternal battle. Death is 					meaningless, and reincarnation
is immediate. It's 			back into the fray within seconds. 

			They don't know it, but the only way out is to 				find within themselves their
lost humanity. 				Anything - compassion, remorse, a shred of good 			will - will
prove a soul's ability to be 				reformed. 

			The arena's only purpose is redemption through 				combat. Lucky few will discover
the secret and 				escape eternal torture. But the rest are destined 			to drench the
walls with their blood over and 				over again, becoming nothing more than another
				human stain.

Other Levels          : A couple back in the day, but nothing worth                  
           noting here.

Additional Credits To : I'd like to thank two old friends. First, Tom 				Brabenec
for getting me into Duke3D in the first 			place, way back in 1996. (As well as my
brother 			from buying the full version when I was still too 			dense to realize how
great it was!)  Secondly, 				I'd like to thank Jason Seekamp. His mapping 				skills
were much better than mine, forcing me to 			try much harder making my own levels. He
helped 			me become a better builder.
                          
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* Play Information *

Episode and Level #    : Stand-alone user level (E1L8 I guess.)
Single Player          : Yes, but in an unconventional way... Single                 
            player Dukematch.(See description above.) It                          	
does have monsters and an exit for about four                            minutes
worth of "normal" single play... :p
DukeMatch              : Yes, it supports up to 12 actually. (Can you do             
            that in a normal multiplayer game? I only ever                          
did one on one.)
Cooperative 2-8 Player : I think so... but it's untested and most likely				
unentertaining.
Difficulty Settings    : Yes, select your difficulty through the included            
             .bat files.
Plutonium Pak Required : Yes, to get the fake multiplayer working. If 
			 you only own Duke3D V.1.3d, there's a 			 		 special version of the map made to
run with 			 	 it. Remember that you can't use the .bat 				 files with 1.3d though,
It's only if want single 			 play or Dukematch. It's in the folder marked 			 	
For_V13d and it's called HS_13d.map.

New Art                : Not this time.
New Music              : No, Dethtoll.mid works just fine here.
New Sound Effects      : No
New .CON Files         : No
Demos Replaced         : No

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* Construction *

Base                   : Based on an old map I did a few years back.
Level Editor(s) Used   : BUILD
Construction Time      : A few days. Released 9/10/05.
Known Bugs/Problems    : None. Just never change any of the respawn                  
            points... wierd things happen when you put                              
aplayer sprites on the floor of the arena...                             

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*Important Information*

Installation           : Extract all the files from Humnstin.zip to your             
            Duke3d directory. Open the .bat files as a .txt
			 file and change the drive letter and folder name
			 if it's different from the default. You can 			 	 easily change the number of
bots by modifying                         	 the /q parameter. I encourage you to find
the                            number that works best for you!

Important Notes        : Don't stick marbles in your nose.

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So, if you read the story, you might be wondering just how to find the
"redemption" that I mention. Well, it's simple really. Simply stop shooting and end
the level. Your unwillingness to harm another living
thing for your own gain shows both compassion and remorse. Thus it
proves you've regained your humanity and it opens up the possibility of
escape. Ironically, the longer the user plays the level, the farther and
farther away from redemption they get - just like a Chinese finger trap.
From a purely storyline-based point of view, I've created a level that's
meant to be played for as brief a time as possible. How... paradoxal.

But from a player's point of view, I've made something fun, if I do say
so myself. I really do enjoy this level, especially on "TheChaos"
setting. ...That is, when I have time to play with myself. ;)