The last map of AFIN, like I said in the ReadMe commentary I reused map 1 because I was lazy (considering how much time it took me to learn how UE1 works I just wanted to finish this project as quickly as possible), however I also wanted to challenge myself by making a level that is a copy of another one but making changes so it plays completely different. When I was thinking of what to do to make this map unique I noticed that I never used the Skaarj in the campaign, so I decided to make a level that only has Skaarj as the main enemy. It worked pretty well and I used the appearance of the Skaarj to enhance the story by adding another layer to the themes of the story, I wanted to show the players the consequences of their actions. Stardust (the player) infiltrates the fortress, kills everything that gets in the way and only focuses on saving Inti while everyone else has to pick up the pieces. The sad irony is that when you read Vulnere (the Krall captain) diary entries you learn that Vulnere created a renegade group that opposes the Skaarj and the reason why Inti was captured was because of the Nali Priest magical abilities that allow Vulnere to convert the Skaarj's minions into their cause. So both Vulnere and Stardust want the same thing, all of the events of the campaign could have been avoided if only Vulnere didn't kidnap Inti the way he did, and also if Stardust didn't kill everyone and instead used a more peaceful way to solve the problem, if Stardust and Vulnere talked to each other then they would have definitely worked together and the Skaarj ambush would have been defeated without that many casualties and Inti would have survived. And in the future, thanks to Stardust help, Vulnere would have created a strong rebellion against the Skaarj , but none of this things happened, because Stardust (and you, the player) never expected the Kralls to be complicated creatures with their own motivations, so you infiltrated the fortress, never caring about the Kralls you killed, just like the countless times players killed Kralls and dismissed them as just Skaarj minions. So as punishment everything goes wrong, including your friend getting killed.
There are other small details about the story, for example in map 1 you can see three birds flying around but when you play map 3 two of them are dead. The birds represent the characters of Vulnere, Inti and Stardust (and the fact that two of them are dead when map 3 starts is foreshadowing to what happens to Inti) Another detail is the color of the tattoos of Vulnere, which is explained in one of his dairy entries in map 2. At the end of the credits you see a Nali ghost that spawns some Nali fruits near Vulnere's corpse, I interpretate this as the equivalent of giving flowers to the dead, and the identity of the Ghost is also not confirmed, it could be Inti, or it could be someone else, someone that has history with Vulnere. In map 1 you see some atrocities done to some of the Nali (this is a misdirection to trick players to dislike the Kralls), however if you read the messages you will learn that this is the actions of only one Krall that's very sadistic in his actions to the point that even Vulnere is thinking of getting rid of him.
The name of the campaign also has layers, while the name is a reference to the fact that your friend needs your help, it's also a reference to the Krall's situation (they are hidden underground, desperately searching for help by capturing Nali and other creatures), it's also references the character of Vulnere because of his backstory (both Vulnere and the Nali that's mentioned in the dairy entries needed help to be free and this is Vulnere's entire motivation). And at the end of the campaign where you get trapped by the Skaarj, you yourself need help and at the end you friend helps you. Also the abbreviation "AFIN" is very similar to "A la FIN" which is French for "in the end", which makes sense since every character meets their end except for you (but the phrase "in the end" can also reference the fact that not only Stardust killed creatures that could have been potential allies but also the mission to save Inti failed, so Stardust has no choice but to live with the consequences, lots of regrets.)
This map is the same as map 1 but with many changes (both aesthetics and gameplay changes), I added a lot of destruction to the environment including many corpses (which means that even if you spare everyone in map 1 they are still going to die). Level geometry is very basic, this was my first custom mapping project so I had no idea how to make good looking geometry, but it's funny that I learned how to make terrain before that
. Since I knew geometry was going to be basic I focused more on the gameplay and the story. Lighting is decent, I still like the reddish look of the fortress area but I made the mistake of not adding Ambient Brightness so dark corners look extremely dark, good thing you have a flashlight with infinite charge
. However the cavern areas are very dark, again Ambient Brightness would have help.
Sound design is decent, I added many Ambient Sounds but unfortunately not that many DynamicAmbientSounds, I underestimated how important those are. Music is very strong, the first song is probably my favorite track of the campaign called "Doom's Day Part 2" , this is a song I found by mistake when searching for songs related to Doom in ModArchive (funny because the song has nothing to do with Doom), it's very dark and atmospheric and in my opinion it represents the campaign's overall mood very well. The second song is Razorback, an earlier version of the famous song that was used in UT99, I synchronized the final boss sequence with the music (however that effect gets ruined if you either play the game with a different speed or if you pause the game).
Gameplay is the highlight of the map, you have to replay the same map as level 1 but now in reverse and full of Skaarj Troopers. If you are familiar with map 1 then this level shouldn't be that complicated, however the first section is very different depending on the difficulty you are playing. If you use the cloak (or use a way to get higher), you can skip the first section, but you can't do that in Unreal difficulty
. There are many snipers and they are the top priority whenever you enter a new area, the section that used to be the first section of the first map has some very sneaky snipers in higher difficulties, so be careful. To spice things up I added a underwater section, it's quite an amazing experience when you destroy a section of the map and you end up in a place you recognize from map 1. This map just like the rest have plenty of secrets, however this map has the least secrets in the campaign, to compensate I created the "Queen hunt" where you have to find Queen toys all over the map to get a huge reward.
The campaign has a credits sequence (a SP and a Coop version), the SP version was inspired by Super Mario 64's ending sequence by showing previously seen locations, I used old fashioned Interpolation Points to get the job done, the credits are synchronized with the music (don't pause the game or you will ruin it
). The Coop version was created since you can't use Interpolation Points when playing online, so I made an interactive credits sequence, the secret in the Coop credits is a reference to a secret from Spatial Fear
Issues I found:
-All maps in AFIN have an error message when you open them in the editor, I didn't port them to 225 properly.
-There's no Ambient Brightness.
-When creatures spawn they get stuck in the air.
-The destructible decorations (like the Queen toys) are pawns and therefore they bleed in the 227 patch.
-The map has pathnodes but it's very flawed.
-This map has a new version of the health pack, but the new message doesn't work in pre-227 Unreal.
-I wanted the Queen toy to move alongside the elevator that takes you to the area with the ScubaGear.
-For some reason sometimes when you play online the Nali ghost becomes afraid of players, which soft-blocks the map.
-There's a glitch in UT99 OldSkool with the amplifier where if you get that pickup before the ASMD you won't be able to use the ASMD with the Amplifier.
-The music track Razorback doesn't loop correctly in audio drivers like OpenAL.
-Very rarely the Troopers start fighting each other during the final sequence (where you are surrounded waiting for Inti to help you)
Somewhere in Nevada...
(I have a problem with my gaming PC setup which should be resolved in the coming days...)
) but it was a nice surprise to see him "return" in some form (also make sure you sit through the credits, people!). 
). I can see and understand how some people will find some elements distracting. It is not quite as severe as how the mixing of quality level design with surprise humor might flag one down in a Waffnuffly epic, but it's on the same train.
