THE PRELUDE || After the Antirrans witnessed the birth of the supreme being through the interaction between the two types of "humans", the Overlords tried to clone the effect and duplicate the union. They succeeded in creating one "Prototype" of the new supreme race of Antirrans. All the Overlords transfused their blood to the GENEPOOL of the new being. As a after thought, the Overlords reasoned that it would be good for the hatchling to have protection on its new home on Earth. They created mass amounts of shadow beings from the refuse blood from the GENEPOOL. These creatures were sent to Earth not to destroy it yet, but to wait for the coming of the Queen. The Overlords only assumed it was a female since the original union produced one. But they could not be sure. So they left the egg under careful watch until it was ready to hatch. If the waiting period was broken and the egg hatched, the bond would be broken and the new being would surely die. When you, Duke Nukem, came along and destroyed the first wave of the alien forces seeking to claim back Earth for Antirra, the Overlords had no choice but to fight against your one-man army. But knowing you would probably defeat them as well, they had no choice but to break the bond with the hatchling. To keep it alive, they sealed it into a cocoon with the rest of the blood from their GENEPOOL. The last reserves had been spent and it was death to the master race. Their only hope rested on the being that emerged from that egg..... THE PROLOGUE February 13, 1998 Sunday 11:24 PM "Damn, why do I always get stuck doing the clean up work for this organization?" I shut up and quietly go about my business cleaning up the blood off the operation table and scoop some of the access dirt that was thrown about in that operation. I'm lucky they keep me alive even now. Ralph always wanted to be part of that group, the ones doing the "stuff". He wanted to be in the room when they did the killing. Oooo, the thrill of watching blood splatter everywhere was exciting to him. Even the taste of it was enough for him to rave like a madman wanting more. He finished the last job of his grisly duty. He didn't even earn daily wage for doing it. "To hell with them!" He shouted inadvertantly. Ralph suddenly became alert, they might have heard. He quickly rushed out of the hospital and dove into his Geo and drove off. February 14, 1998 Monday 8:00 AM Jerry always worked in the hospital, innocent of all wrong doing and he never knew the experiments happening in the basement after 9:00 PM He thought it was just a celebration where only invited people go, he was not one of them. He never wanted to find out what it was about either, he was one of those goody-two-shoes who never did anything against his moral values. He gladly did his work and never complained. He was the best worker they had had in a few years since the, death, of the last good worker. The reason he died was he betrayed the Trust and let the news of the experiments leak out to the press. He had to be killed. But Jerry, the Trust felt he could be trusted. Only on Valentine's Day did he become the slightest bit curious about the doctors that passed through the restricted elevator that led down to the basement. Doctors with bloody hands and gloves passed through this elevator. He wanted to take a peek. It wasn't in his nature, but today, just today did he feel out of place in this hospital. He decided to wait until night before returning to check it out. Monday 11:00 PM Jerry slipped in past the guards. Since he was, after all, a goody two-shoes and he got to know the guards and their schedules. He knew the place where all the camera monitors were being supervised. He held a thin rope in his left hand and choked the guard only to the point of blacking out. He never believed in killing. He pulled the plug on the security system and all the monitors blacked out. He left the room and headed for the "Employees Only" elevator, he was only a volunteer, but they treated him like a member of the Trust. Palms sweating, he pressed the "B" button on the elevator floor indicator. The door silently closed as if sealing his untimly doom. The doors opened revealing a pitch black room with some silent screams he could not hear wailing throughout the room. Jerry trudged in and flipped a nearby light switch. He saw a poor hapless woman, eyes begging him to end her misery. A egg of some sort was attached to her lower hip area. It was doing something to her throught skin contact. Jerry tried pulling the egg off but it ripped and teared at the poor woman's skin as her muffled cries got louder. Apparently, that didn't work. He lifted the naked woman onto his shoulders and ran as fast as he could towards the elevator when the doors slammed shut. Jerry, scared shit, ran in the opposite direction hopelessly searching for some other exit out of the basement when he spotted a vent on the back wall. Seeing this as his only escape, he layed the woman down and ripped the grate off it's hinges with strength he didn't know he even had. As he pulled the grate off, a shadow from the darkness of the far corner of the room swept up and lashed out at Jerry's head slicing it clean off. The shadow-like thing turned towards the woman and glowered at her with its beady red pupils. It raised it blood red claws for the kill. Then it stopped and lowered its arm than gave a guttural laugh as it saw the egg attached. "So," it said, "The Queen has returned to us at last!" The last thing heard was the screaming of the doomed woman staring wide-eyed at the shadow. THE STORY Level 1: HOLOCAUST OF THE INNOCENTS\\ Aftr kicking some alien butt on their home planet, you thought it a good time to finally finish that vacation you started long ago and finally finish your novel, "Why I am so Great". When you finally return home to LA, everything was destroyed. Buildings were in disrepair and all of the people were either dead or gone. LA, at the moment, was a dead city. You check into a hotel and find no one is there. You go up the elevator and check back into your old room here. You find your shotgun and your handy pistol clip. Now its time to pay back whoever did this to LA! (We'll give you a hint: Count the dead bodies you find and what type they are, you'll need that information for a later puzzle! The bodies that don't explode when you blast a pipe bomb.) "Great for Co-op, not so great for Dukematch." AUTHOR: Sean//Midi Soundtrack: E5L1holo.mid Level 2: COUNTDOWN TO DOOM\\ You advance into the sewers of LA and the stink just knocks you over. You put a fresh ammo clip in the pistol you found and head off into the sewers. As you work your way through the dank sewers, you stumble onto a IMF reasearch faclity. The IMF sure does seem to be in everything. It appears that they were testing some transport device to access the aliens on their home planet WHERE they should have cleaned up the rest of the vermin after you destroyed their Overlords. It is time to finish what they started. "Great for Co-op play, terrible for Dukematch." AUTHOR: Matthew//Midi Soundtrack: E5L2doom.mid Level 3: GROUND ZERO\\ You found a top secret IMF facility experimenting with time distortion and time warp machines. The portals worked and the last one you entered sent you spiraling through space and time to the Himalayas on top of Mt. Everest. Surprised to be here, you now scope out your new surroundings. You then remember recalling a rumor of an ancient Eygptian tomb buried deep within Mt. Everest filled with riches and traps. With this in mind you set out to do double duty; Kill the aliens, Find the treasure. "Not so great for Co-op and Dukematch." AUTHOR: Brian//Midi Soundtrack: E5L3zero.mid Level 4: ALPHA QUADRANT 666\\ Upon finding the space ship at the base of Mt. Everest, you look upon the control monitor which was pointing at a huge space station orbiting above Earth. You set the coordinates on the ship to fly you to the station. Once there, you set out to find what is significance with this space station. Apparently, it was once a Polaris Outpost. But the real question remain, why was monitor pointing to this station and why do the aliens need this station? "Excellant for Co-op, bad for Dukematch." AUTHOR: Sean, Matthew//Midi Soundtrack: E5L4quad.mid Level 5: THE HIVE\\ This is where all of your cunning and determination has lead you. The aliens will do anything to stop your forward progress. It appears that the space station is a "bee hive" full of the alien menace! But for what reason did all these aliens accumulate here? For all you know, you ravaged the home world of these things but something is not right... it's as if they are guarding something very "special". Good Luck! "Good for Co-op, Great for Dukematch." AUTHOR: Sean//Midi Soundtrack: E5L5hive.mid For your pleasure, we hid four, yep, count them, four secret levels. (As well as a dozen of secret places in each level.) So knock yourself out! ;) Here is the full listing of the secret levels. But, these secret levels are extremely HARD! So think twice before hitting that Hidden Nukebutton. Level 6: MISSION:DESTRUCTION\\ The IMF base was infilerated and destroyed. So, they built a new base where not only could they focus on destroying the aliens, but destroying you for wrecking their original base. This time, they mean business. They have a Nuclear Missle ready to launch at LA, but you can stop it and launch it to another destination site. Eventually you'll come across three doors. Which one leads to freedom and which ones lead to traps? You decide. ;) "Great in Co-op, Okay in Dukematch. :| " AUTHOR: Jonathan//Midi Soundtrack: E5L6miss.mid Level 8: THE BLEEDING\\ Named after and constructed after one of the levels in the hit N64 game, "Doom 64". But, not everything is similar, as you will soon see. Out of all the secret levels, this one has got to be the hardest. I will not reveal much, except that it is a very small level, the smallest of all the levels. But, it is the hardest level you will have ever played! Remember what happened at the end of GOING POSTAL? You released all holy hell on yourself. Well, get ready to do it again two more times!!! "A must play in Co-op, Excellant for Dukematch." AUTHOR: Sean//Midi Soundtrack: E5L8bled.mid Level 7: STRANGE DAYS\\ An empty, yet strangly quiet space station sends chills up Duke's spine. Should there not be aliens lurking around every corner? That is for you to find out. You must enter a Warehouse to get the Blue Keycard, and from there, you must enter two strange and unique worlds. Then you must face a scene from your past. :) "Not so good for Co-op play, great for Dukematch." AUTHOR: Rory//Midi Soundtrack: E5L7days.mid Level 9: ANIMAL HOUSE\\ Remember _zoo.map? This is a evil and twisted rehap of that level. He, He, He. :) But, fortunately, you don't have to explore everywhere to complete the level. As you can see, we made this level clearly out of fun spirit. We really had no more ideas, so we picked Zoo.map for our inspiration. ;) You can easily find the Exit Switch straight from the start. But wouldn't it be more exciting to explore? :) All five of us chipped in to help on this level, But Matt got the credit. So you can see my messages to Matt saying "Bite Me!" in my levels. ;) "Definitely meant for all modes of play, Single, Co-op, and Dukematch!" AUTHOR: Matthew//Midi Soundtrack: E5L9anml.mid Level 10: DROP ZONE\\ This is a Dukematch only level!!!! This is here for your enjoyment if you have beaten the episode on all four skill levels and you are really bored. The level here is a Dukematch level where you just basically, DROP!!!! To find you opponent, drop down into cauldrons, or jetpack up into cauldrons. Or use the teleporters scattered throughout the level. There is also one secret area. "Meant for Dukematch only!" AUTHOR: Matthew//Midi Soundtrack: E5L10drp.mid Level 11: BACKALLEY RUMBLE\\ Again, another Dukematch level. This is also here for your enjoyment. It is a small arena, you can find the other person within a minute. There is a lot of ammo to go around. As you can see, I am better at making single player levels than I am at making Dukematch levels! "Meant for Dukematch only!" AUTHOR: Sean//Midi Soundtrack: E5L11aly.mid ====================================================================== Title : THE RETURN Filename : return.grp Author(s) : Sean, Matthew, Brian, Rory, Jonathan. E-mail : eifel1@worldnet.att.net (Matt's e-mail) Web Page : None yet Misc. Author(s) Info : Which author? =) Other Levels : To numerous to mention here. Description : A 9 level episode starting after "The Gate" in Elitegames.com Additional Credits To : Sean, for making all those neat effects, I'm sure I would never have accomplished. Brian, for the help he gave in making the episode fair, even for the best of players. And for Rory and Jonathan for submitting their levels for this episode. I also wish to thank Brian for writing the new .cons and Sean and his hard work in writing the story for the episode. I would like to thank both BDP and Zerohour Software for their contributions to this episode. Mainly the new art and music, you people set the mood of the game. Without you guys this would not be possible! I thank BDP for this episode's inspiration and I personally thank Zerohour Software for the new weapons, I know they were all yours! I thank 3DRealms for making a great game! ====================================================================== * Play Information * Episode and Level # : E4L1-E4L11 Single Player : Yes DukeMatch 2-8 Player : Implemented, but not tested Cooperative 2-8 Player : Implemented, slightly tested Difficulty Settings : Yes, all four of them! Plutonium Pak Required : Yes New Art : Yes New Music : Yes and No, some it's from the BDP project, Brian thought it a good idea. New Sound Effects : No New .CON Files : Yes Demos Replaced : DEMO1, 2, 3.dmo ===================================================================== * Construction * Base : New episode from scratch (Except for the Spin Cycle) Level Editor(s) Used : BUILD Art Editor(s) Used : EditArt Construction Time : About 9 months. Known Bugs : The only bug, is if you're running a slower machine, it might slow down big time! Pentium recommended!!!! Some texture disorientations. The swinging doors in the hotel in level 1 look funny when they are open. * Where to get this MAP file * File location : Elitegames.com ===================================================================== *Important Information* Installation : Unzip all files, move all the map and mid files to another (create it) directory along with the four return#.art files. Makes sure the four cons and three demos are also in this directory. Finally, copy duke3d.grp, kextract.exe, kgroup.exe and move Groupr.bat to this directory and double click the Groupr batch file. After it is done grouping return.grp, move Return.grp and the three cons and demos to the Duke Nukem directory. If you copied duke3d.grp, kextract.exe, kgroup.exe then you can delete the directory where you activated Groupr.bat. Now, find Return.bat and double click it. Just make sure there are no .art, .mid, or .voc files in your directory or it will not work, don't ask me why. Sean made the .bat file! Important Notes : Please don't steal, or make money of this or any of the levels in our episode. Not only we three, but other people have sent in their submissions and we don't want them to be ripped off. So show some respect and just enjoy the levels and don't say you made them either. Thank you. (You can however borrow some of our ideas, just don't take credit for them.) ====================================================================== *Hints* About The Levels : Don't give up and use cheat codes. We depise cheaters! Whenever you come across a "wall", don't just button thrash or use codes. There is ALWAYS a way to beat each and every level. OPEN your eyes and look around. Usually, there might have been a switch or doorway you might have missed on first look. Also, except for some secret areas, you don't need the jetpack to complete any one level. So try beating a level without a jetpack. So, keep this in mind, every level can be done!!!! Whew! Since you read all that and resisted the urge to just get into the episode and play, I think we will give you a hint or two! :) Hint: In Ground Zero where you slide down a tunnel leading to the base of Mt. Everest and come across a gigantic spaceship, you will find two cases of pipe bombs and two atomic health units! What a prize! But you cannot seemingly get to it, even with a jetpack. :( So, search for a passageway "onto" the icy wasteland surrounding the spaceship. It's to the left of the entrance on "top" of a dark patch of icy snow. You must JUMP over the patch of dark snow and you'll be on the plane of ice. Then easily jump onto the spaceship to get the stash. If you keep searching, you'll find another secret area with some Night Vision Goggles! Hint: On your first time through, or even on your second time through, you might not find any hidden Nukebuttons leading to one of the four secret levels. Without a tip, you probably couldn't find any of the secret levels. So, we will give you access to "The Bleeding". In "Countdown To Doom", you will enter a hallway with three doors with neon numbers on the floor outside of each door indicating "1", "2", and "3". When you enter door number "1", you will come down a corridor and down some railings. On the wall with the huge "IMF' symbol, press "SPACEBAR" on the wall below it. It will open revealing the secret entrance to the hardest secret level, "The Bleeding"! We recommend considering your life before entering the secret level, "The Bleeding" is very unforgiving! Hint: Our next hint is about our three new enemies. If you ever encounter an Organtic (those are the things that are black with red streaks in them), you should never turn your back to them. If you face them, they won't attack you. If you ever encounter a Pig Cop Crusher Tank (you'll know what it is!), our only advice to you is this, RUN!!! Find a suitable place to hide and retaliate. Never go head on with these things, if you do you might have a screw loose. Never venture too far from them or they will start shooting Shrinker Rays and RPG shots! Also, never venture too close or you will have a more likely chance of getting hit from the barrages of Freeze Ray shots! Also, expect a Pig Cop to come chasing after you when the Tank is demolished! And finally, when you encounter the "main" enemy of our episode, the Shadow, you will definitely need some help! There are multiple kinds of Shadows, each with a different weapon with the Shadow with the Shrinker Ray the most dangerous. But all of these Shadows requires the same strategy to beat. First off, KEEP MOVING! Second, always keep your jetpack handy (if you have one) just in case you get shrunk, because Shadows don't wait for you to un-shrink before stomping you flat, they just do it! So, if you have you Jetpack on they will not stomp you if you're out of their reach. Third, always find shelter from them like a wall or something! You need something to hide behind to protect yourself from their vicious attacks. Fourth, if Shadows appear with other aliens, and they will, take the Shadows out first then move on to the the rest of the pack. And finally, if they disappear, back into a corner so they will have no choice but to reappear in front of you leaving you a bit of an advantage when they rematerialize. Above all, DON'T PANIC! Good Luck and Have Fun!