Map type: Single Player
Version Info: The first release of Occupation, which only went up at JediKnightii.net before I spotted the errors it had, has been replaced with OccupationV2. I have re-submitted the second version of the map to all the sites I submitted the first version to. The errors in the first version were fairly serious, including Kyle appearing invisible and many missing textures. Nothing has changed in terms of the gameplay of the second version, it is simply the fully working version of Occupation I intended to submit the first time around. OccupationV2 is basically the final release.
I'd like to appologise to all the people who have downloaded the first version of Occupation, I realise it's a massive download and it must be a big dissapointment to find it isn't all in working order. I'd also like to appologise to all the map sites who I have caused a problem for by submitting a flawed file.
Story: Following on from Prison_Escape, Kyle is sent to infiltrate Galtech's HQ to discover more about their link with the Remnant. Kyle's investigation will lead him to a distant planet in the Outer Rim with a feudal culture and powerful overlords.
Other Info:
Recommended Sound Settings:
Voice - Full
Effects - 1/4 to 1/3
Music - 1/4 or less
Speaker Volume - High
If you have subtitles on before starting the level, the credits will appear as the intro plays
Try talking to all the neutrals you meet, they can offer valuable help and information. Be careful to avoid walking into a building when the area outside is not clear of hostiles - you may be attacked when talking to people and vulnerable
Talking to some people with a lightsaber on can scare them and cause them to become incoherent, try talking to them with the saber off
Voice Acting:
Adam Johnson - Kyle Katarn, Bartender, Drake
Erik "Muurn" Moon - Micheal Jameson
Mauri "Darkblade" Majanoja - Republic Commander
Christopher Barlow - Ryar Iyet, Merchant, Panet (tells Kyle they don't want any trouble)
Nick "BlindSkater" C. - Mard (tells Kyle the location of Drake)
Stephen "Wotno" Peacock - Arcet (Tells Kyle about books)
Matt Barton - Towes (sitting infrount of fire)
Richard "frances_farmer" White - Shopkeeper
Chronocrossed - Doctor
Leo "Darth Exodus" Thornton - Lagant (red warrior with orange lightsaber)
Simon "Kengo" Williams - Jameson Aide
Custom Skins:
Hapslash - Kyle Katarn - Stealth Jedi Gear
Custom Textures:
Iikka "Fingers" Keranen
Chadrick "ShroomDuck" Rode
GideonTheDead
DEADLOCK
Prefabs:
GideonTheDead - Shuttle Prefab
Testing:
Adam Johnson
Notes: I felt that Prison_Escape was a big step forward from my previous SP maps in that the architectue and lighting weren't utterly horrible, and it had a few relatively unusual things as well like a couple of very short cutscenes. I hope this map is a bigger step forward than Prison_Escape was. The thing that really attracted me to SP mapping in the first place was the opportunity to extend the storyline beyond the plot of the main game to new events, characters and even time periods. I put an advert up at JediKnightii.net early on in the design process of this map, beforeI had started mapping it in fact, for voice actors and I was blown away by the response. The site suddenly got hunders of hits and I go a huge number of emails. I got about 10 people working on voice acting for different parts when I finalised the script (a few characters like Lagant were added quite late on). Having a large number of talented voice actors, and having learnt a good deal more about cutscenes, improving the quality of the overall camera work and learning some basic animations, gave me far greater creative flexibility. Occupation has probabaly over 5 minutes of cutscenes in total, I think it's the first SP map for Jedi Knight 2 to feature such extensive cutscenes, particulalry with lots of voice acting, and I'm very pleased with that.
The biggest problem I had with this map was models (the player, NPCs and md3 models like glasses) flickering. I found out (due to some help from Gabrobot) the problem was down to too many models on the level at once. It took quite a bit of work to get rid of the flickering, firstly I had to cut down on loads of md3 models like a lot of glasses and books dotted around the place. I decided not to have trees in the town for the same reason. Originally I had wanted stormtroopers partolling around an open town plan - with avoidance a key part of the player's strategy. Firstly I couldn't seem to get stormtroopers both patrolling a set route and attacking the player when they saw them. As importantly, this woulod mean loads of NPCs all over the level all the time, and I needed to reduce the number of models in the level at once to alleviate the flickering. I decided to section the town off into streets. This seemed to make sense plot wise, it's an occupied town and so the townspeople can't move freely. It also meant the player couldn't rush through the level in 2 minutes flat, I could encourperate doors with a key carried by an officer on the street or kept in one of the buildings, this would mean the player would have to look around for the keys to get to the next street section. To ensure the player couldn't just jump into the next street section I had to completely get rid of force jump as well. This was a hard choice, as force jump is a lot of fun, and no force jump also means no wall flips, but I felt it was neccisary. It gives the game a slightly different feel which I quite liked. I also reduced saber throw to level 2, as at level 3 you can automatically cut down 5 or 6 enemies no problem and I felt that was just too powerful. I also reduced force lightning to level 2, at level 3 it's pretty much like saber throw; too strong. Force heal is down to level 1, which means you stop, crouch down and slowly regenerate your health. I felt level 3 made you too powerful and made bacta canisters surplus to requirements. I wanted searching for items to be important, there are loads of items and guns on the level, but many require at least some exploration.
The two big influences for me when creating this map were Zelda (N64 versions in particular) and Deus Ex. I didn't get anywhere near the amazingness of anything from either of these, but the main thing from them that inspired me was the character interaction. The idea of a town you wandered around while fighting enemies basically came from Zelda, and I guess this is largely where the Medieval theme came from as well (along with my love of that period anyway). Playing Deus Ex amazed me with the sheer level of interaction you could have with NPCs in a First Person Shooter. I started off very ambitious, and had to downscale my ambitions big-time when I started to realise some of the limitations of the engine, my mapping/scripting abilities, or both. I couldn''t put money in, I couldnt get the optional responses of Deus Ex, I had a hard time getting the feel of realism or involvement from either game. Sub-games, another strong point of both, is something I failed fairly miserably at (and was probabaly fairly possible if I'd have put more effort into this, note for future maps). I did try to put elements into the map that were optional, including finding a couple of weapons stashes, and in particular finding out who the Remnant sympathiser in the town is. See the guide section for info on this if you're having trouble working it out, but it's more fun to work it out yourself of course :) One hint I will give: it's not necissarily the shiftiest townsperson in town. Another great thing about Deus Ex and Zelda is the characterisation - you get to really like some of the characters. I am hoping that all the great voice acting for the different characters will help to make them involving to interact with.
New features:
Extensive voice acting and cutscenes
First map of mine to come as part of a mod, which features a customised menu screen, rather than being loaded from the console
Altered NPC characteristics, including stronger red stormtroopers, improved swamptroopers, a low (instead of zero) chance of decaptiations using the lightsaber for some enemies, some very tough lightsaber wielding foes, and some neutral NPCs using MP blue skins
Different levels of difficulty
Correct objectives
Custom Kyle skin
Custom levelshot
Two maps for one level (first map is for the intro, second map is the main part)
Credits (as subtitles) during the intro cutscene
Credits running at the end
Construction Info:
Occupation
Brush Count: 567
Entity Count: 247
Base info: New content
Occupation_Main
Brush Count: 3781
Entity Count: 1013
Base info: New content
Software used: JK2Radiant
Build Time: Around 200 hours
Thanks To:
TheBighouse
TheMassassiTemple
PCGameMods
JediKnightii.net
JK2Mapping
RichDiesalsMappingUniversity
MassassiForums
LucasForums
EFTutorials
Mike Page
Louis Granato III
DeTriTiC-iQ
AKPiggott
Bell
Alan Paris
Agent Grey Hair
Gabrobot
Tiber
RichDiesal
Darth Arth
Mauri "Darkblade" Majanoja
Stephen "Wotno" Peacock
Richard "frances_farmer" White
Special Thanks:
Adam Johnson
Emon
Spirit_In_Black
Raven
LucasArts