SESA-ME : Doors to Surreality


--- Ali Baba's tablet ---

In-game levelname: "SESA-ME : Doors to Surreality"
Author: Storm„ L@ke
E-mail: stormylake4u@hotmail.com
Description: "MP Ground Arena PCL with leveltransitions to the original retail MP levels and a hidden ground level (Relic of Fire)."
Constructiontime : almost 2 months

I know this level looks familiar to some, but I hope that Duncan will see that this is much much more that just a renaming of an old level and let it enter his monthly leveldesign contest.

--- Open SESA-ME ---

* Unzip everything into the directory: ...\Drakan\Multiplayer\Ground\SESA-ME\

( Be sure that you have downloaded & installed the Drakan 445 patch or higher. Click on link if you haven't.)
Also : if the files are not placed in the SESA-ME directory then you can't access "Relic of Fire".

* if you host a server, then you can always load the level by typing in the chatline : level sesa-me
(or : level sesa)

--- How to play sesa-me ---

There are no clear rules. Just guidelines.
You start in a small pit. Then you must climb the tree to get on the upperfloor. You'll notice that the doors are closed with doors that hurt. You have to find the pressure plate that opens those doors.
There is a way to get on the area above the floors. Once you found how, you can fall in the soft sand. There is a gate, closed by two switches. One of them gives access to the cave.
There is a way to get in the mountains. You have to find out how. It's real simpel but you just have to notice it. Some handy objects can be found in those mountains.
Players that don't like to explore, can duel in the pit.
If you don't want that someone slides in one of the doors (and chooses a level)then just don't let that person near the pressureplate that opens the doors. (or just ask him polite not to do it)

--- Origin of SESA-ME ---
The birth of this level is quite a story. I shall try to keep it short.
First there was Portals123. It was a collection of 3 similar ground levels with a total of 30 leveltransistion to known PCL's. I believed it were fine levels, but they never became very popular. Why? Simply because not everyone could or wanted to install the 20 required PCL's and because of that, the possibility existed that when a players entered the server: he could be thrown off because someone selected a level he/she didn't had. Not that i was sad about it's unpopularity, it's just the way the coockie crumbles.
Then came "Aggressions" by MiNdFiRe. No problem there. I always liked his levels a lot and that Zip is a collection all his updated levels, connected by a portal-level ("limbo").
But he requested in the readme that everyone had to remove all his old levels. I can understand why.
As a result, Lowlight (the ruler over Surreal-news.com) decided to delete all M's old levels on his website.
"Drat" ,I shouted in my native language. 2 of those deleted levels had a leveltransition in Portals123 and that ment i had to re-do them. "Drat" I had to reinstall the leveleditor again.
So i e-mailed both MindFire and Lowlight to ask if it wasn't possible to let at least those 2 levels stay on Lowlight's levellist. Lowlight replied, asking if I just couldn't redo them.
After a big *sigh* a *grumble* and a cracker, I decided to update the levels.
But this time I was not planning to send them as a collection. But as different levels. Also the original Portals levels were to small to stay fun. And they needed something extra.
Then I reminded what Radzzz once told me (Radz is the owner of the Oracle-Mountain dedicated server) He said that if I would make a fast ground arena level, he would include it in his selection. I told him that i was thinking about making a big QOD level. He said that players prefere fast arena levels like "Relic" and "Hill of Fire" the most. I see now that he had a good point.
Also, if I had to include a hidden level, then it had to have a surreal kind of look and feel.
The result was that I added a hidden level : "Relic of Fire". Don't try to find it in the levellist when you host. It won't be there. It can only be accessed through SESA-ME. It's a level that combines 2 of the most popular levels : "Hill of Fire" and "Relic".

I hope you all enjoy "SESA-ME" and "Relic of Fire" as much as I did working on them.

I had perpared "sesa-me 2" and "sesa-me 3" but i shall not finish them. I figured out that they wouldn't be used anyway. For the same reasons the portals123 levels were not used as i explained above.

--- Thank you section ---

* All the beta-testers for Sesa-Me and Relic of Fire : Dark-Jedi Knight, Psy (aka Tuxedo Mask aka DSomner aka Crucifier aka ...), White Rabbit, Draco, Dragonheart, Sulalee,
* Surreal for making Drakan
* Sserphentraxus and the members of the Dragon Flight clan, for providing a challenge in air only combat. >=8D~
* The members of the AFW clan (go.to/AFW) for having faith in Jedi and me.
* Anyone who agrees that this collection is well worth downloading.
* Lowlight for forcing me to make the level. (and keeping Surreal-news up to date :) )
* Quiksilver_5 and Unknown Warrior for making a Iconindex available on the Drakan Fantasy Forge. It really spared me a lot of searching in the databases. :)
* Anyone i forgot to mention.

--- Extra ---
* In the zip is a text file included ("Player Created Levels.txt") that contains all the LVL paths for all the levels that were on the surreal-news.com PCL list the day I released this level. I hope the file will be a help for the generous people that provide us drakanites a dedicated server. :) Those lines can be added to any LFL file they prefere.
It's also intended for those players that don't always know in what directory a level should be put. They can use the list as a reference.

* When you climb the tree then you'll notice that the mountains suddenly appear. This is no bug. It is intended to assure a higher framerate when fighting on the dancefloor eerrhmm... the pit.

* The rolling rock. It's client based, which means that when someone pushes it other players see him/her pushing air. It looks weird but it's no bug. This way the rock doesn't send packages to the server and so the rock can't create lag. This is also true for the gates, every player has to open the gates personaly.

* When your inventory is full in "relic of fire" then you can't evoke the firecrystal. Rynn will say that the inventory is full. I dedided to keep this bug. Call it justice against the players that stock up on items if you want. (chances are that this will not happen very often) :D

* Like "Dragon Sea" and "The Pool", "Sesa-me" is also playable as SP. First you fight a knight in the pit. Then you must try to open the gate and free Arokh. This while gaints are closing in on you. Luckely they are not very fond of each other. ;D Don't try to jump in the doors or you get stuck. It's just something extra i added, so don't call Sesa-me an SP level. thx.
How to play a downloaded single player level : Open drakan while pressing SHIFT. You'll get a "riot engine options" window. Go to the 3th tab ("Developers") and checkmark "enable developers mode". When you press "OK" then drakan will start but you won't get the intro anymore. Then press the gem to start a new game. This time you'll get a list of all the levels you downloaded. Open the SP level you had installed.

--- Inspirations ---

SESA-ME
° "Portals123"
° "White Wolf Colloseum" by QuikSilver_5
° "Dragon-ride 2" by Unknown Warrior
° The skin for the "Spacepirat" is based on the Unreal skin send in by Max Bulavin.

Relic of Fire
° "Relic" by Surreal
° "Hill of Fire" by Surreal
° "Ice Arena" by OgreX