Marathon (series)

Plays of the trilogy

Marathon

Left the December 21st 1994, Marathon was one of the first of the kind to be appeared on Macintosh. Contrary to the other FPS of the same time (like Doom of Id Software), Marathon was equipped with an elaborate scenario (rich in reversals of situation, treasons…) and of a particular environment.

History

The play places the player in 2794 as an officer of safety on board colonial human vessel Marathon . Of return of one mission outside he discovers that the vessel is invaded by a race of extraterrestrial the Pfhor , kind of slave modern. He must then eliminate the extraterrestrial ones so reaching the trip computers to try to learn what occurred. The player interacts with the various artificial intelligences of the vessel ( Leela , Tycho and Durandal ) via terminals. Pirated by the aliens, one of them succumbs quickly and the player must then refer to Durandal , another artificial intelligence, to expel the invader and to reactivate defenses of the vessel. Unfortunately, Durandal , reached of a disorder named Crawling , becomes completely insane with the wire of the levels and its speech becomes increasingly worrying. Releases of prisoners and reactivations of sections of the vessel follow one another then, with great reinforcement of extermination of the aliens. During the play, the player manages to release the Pht - another extraterrestrial race - influence of the Pfhor by pushing them to rebel against those.

Marathon 2: Durandal

Left the November 24th 1995, Marathon 2: Durandal is the continuation of Marathon. In addition to one version for Macintosh, a version for Windows 95 left later.

The engine

The engine of the first play underwent a total recasting and allowed contrary to the first Marathon decorations in outsides, as well as the possibility of evolving/moving in water. Several plays such as Premium Target and Damage Incorporated used the engine of Marathon 2.

History

The history proceeds 17 years after the first Marathon. Frozen on board the vessel Marathon at the end of the first play, the hero is awaked when the vessel approaches the native world of the Pht . The initial goal is then to release this world in its entirety, but Durandal, the IA ordering the hero, especially seems to seek information concerning the 11th lost clan of the pht.

Marathon Infinity

Third episode of the trilogy, Marathon Infinity included more levels than Marathon 2, which were larger, more alarming, and more complexes. Marathon Infinity left the October 15th 1996 and only on Macintosh. (It will be later made compatible Windows and Linux with Aleph One with the beginning of the year 2000.)

The engine

The engine evolved/moved little since Marathon 2, and the majority of the charts are compatible between the two plays. The main new thing was the inclusion of an editor of level, Forge , and of an associated physical editor, Anvil . Forge and Anvil made it possible players to create their own levels using the same tools as the developers of Bungie themselves. Another improvement was the possibility of defining specific weapons, monsters and physical definitions for each level, a device strongly used by Double Aught, which conceived the levels of Marathon Infinity. Marathon 2 and especially Marathon Infinity were notable for their complex pieces of ground.

History

Marathon Infinity starts after the Pfhor destroyed Lh' owon by using a weapon surpuissante stolen to the Jjaro (arms known under the name of Trih' Xeem or Early Nova ). By doing this, Pfhors released a chaotic entity known under the name of W' rkncacnter which destroys little by little the universe. But helped of Thoth, the IA of the pht' Kr, it seems however possible to prevent the end of the universe…

Universe of Marathon

History of Marathon

to also see Chronology of Marathon

Races

The human ones

Organizations

UESC/UESG : United Earth Space Council/Government. The UESG is the government on Sol , which gathers the Earth, Mars, and various another planets and asteroids of the solar system.

MIDA : Martian Interplanetary Defense Alliance. The MIDA is a popular political party Martian. Characterized by its positions extremists, it will seize the power Martian by a coup d'etat, before being reversed and decapitated at the end of three months. During this short period of terror, all the partisans of the UESC were killed. It is estimated that approximately ten percent of the population were on the whole carried out. The organization since survived as a clandestine terrorist organization.

BOB: The other human ones that the player meets at the time of the play are called the BOB (which means Born One Board ). In Marathon, the majority are not armed and ignore the player; in Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity they can use weapons and attack the enemies. Thanks to the study of the human organisms, Pfhor have creates comparable BOB , which are alive bombs. Indifférenciables with the sight of the true BOB, those sink towards you and burst. They always carry green uniforms (but all the green BOB are not shows) and have yellow blood. They are particularly a problem in the levels in which it is necessary to protect the BOB: it is necessary to eliminate all the shows without killing out of true BOB. The comparable BOB are recognizable by the fact that they say particular sentences, like “Don' T shot! ” (do not draw!), “I' m out off friendly! ” (I have more ammunition!), “Thank God it' S you! ” (Thank you God it is you!) or “Frog blast the wind core! ”. This last sentence stripped of direction is famous in the series of the Marathon ; it makes it possible to betray the comparable BOB. Doug Zartman, which recorded the voices of the BOB, was to improvise a random sentence, and it is what it obtained: “Frog blast the wind core! ”. To say this sentence during a part in network of Marathon or a cat is very popular in the Marathon community, the fact that she wants nothing to say enabling him to be left at any time. This sentence reappeared hidden in other more recent plays like Myth and Tron 2 .

Personalities

Robert Blake was a member of the colony on Tau Ceti. As much of colonists, it was captured as slave by Pfhor at the time of the attack of the colony (Marathon 1), then released when Durandal captured the Pfhor vessel. It then took the head of the human survivors after their refuge on Lh' owon (Marathon 2).
Bernhard Strauss is the first scientific director of the Marathon vessel.

Pfhor

Pfhor are a race ancient Extraterrestre, the slave ones seeking to control the galaxy and to carry out many bad contracts in the plays. Pfhor are biped, lighter, more end and slightly larger than the human ones, have three red eyes and the green skin. Pfhor are gathered as various clans, which fight sometimes between them:

the basic type and more the current is the Fighter (Hunter), slightly armor-plated Pfhor using a lance of shock possibly which can launch projectiles of energy (for the orange and blue types). Fighter exist in four different classes, by order ascending: green, crimson, orange, blue.

the Trooper (Infantrymen) are equipped for conditions with nonpressurization. They have strongly armor-plated armours and an automatic rifle being able to launch grenades. Troopers are of two types: green and crimson.

the Hunter (Killers) are the troops of attack of Pfhor. They use on the shoulder a weapon with energy and it is heavily armoured. They are of four different classes: (by row growing) brown, green, crimson, and blue.

the Enforcer (authorities) are the “MP” of Pfhor. They carry strange coats and weapons aliens. They of two types: orange and green/blue blue/.

the Juggernaut are the tanks of Pfhor. These enormous heavily armed flying platforms are with the crossing between a tank and a helicopter of attack. They are equipped with two rocket launchers and a weapon alien to double gun. They are of two types: dangerous and very dangerous (gray and brown).

Pfhor also use the controlled Conditioned Ranks , or soldiers, who are forced to fight for the empire. The conquered races compose the majority of the conditioned rows. Among those one counts Hulk , pht , etc

The pht

The pht , or Compileurs , are a race of aliens cyborg, create by the Jjaro starting from the F' lickta for terraformer Lh' owon . They have summers reduced in slavery by the Phfor and released by Durandal in Marathon 2 masses some.

Compileurs are in flying cybernetic bodies. The biological components of the compilor are so related to the machine which they cannot survive without it. The true body of the compilor is very small, resembling a brain of mamalien, except that the neurons are finer and complex. They have the capacity to be interfaced with the computers of the Marathon to pirate them or take their control. They exist two colors: oranges and crimsons. Some more powerful are also invisible.

There existed 11 clans pht on Lh' owon :

pht' Lhar ;
pht' Hra ;
pht' Nma ;
pht' Kah ;
pht' Vir ;
pht' Yra ;
pht' Valley ;
pht' Shr ;
pht' Mnr ;
pht' Yor ;
pht' Kr , the eleventh clan pht, called the clan lost by the other clans.

Only the pht' Kr were succeeded in escaping from slavery Pfhor . It are forced to flee on the second moon of Lh' owon , K' bound , to flee the war against the pht' Mnr in the year 811. It succeed in expelling their moon K' bound system Lh' owon at the time of the attack Pfhor in 1811 by using a powerful technology inherited the Jjaro (of the name of Y' rr ).

F' lickta

The F' lickta are the native creatures of Lh' owon, alive in the sewers, water or the lava. They are the ancestors of the pht. They have a simplified digestive system: they absorb nutrients of the substance in which they live. It are extremely irritable, and to enter their burrow not armed is not recommended.

Jjaro

One knows little of it about the Jjaro , an extremely advanced species which disappeared from our galaxy several million year ago (one does not see them appearing in the play). Part of their technology fell between the hands from Pfhor. Jjaro had a technology very advanced on the cyborg (which was used to create the pht), a known very powerful weapon under the name of Trih' Xeem (which stolen and will be used by Pfhor to destroy Lh' owon), and the capacity to move whole planets by deforming space around them.

Jjaro appeared in an older play of Bungie, Pathways Into Darkness.

IA of the vessels Marathon

Leela : The artificial intelligence which will take to you in hand as of your arrived on the Marathon vessel.

Very devoted, it will not be able to follow you very a long time under the attacks of Pfhors.

Durandal: The infernal IA Crawling which will make you live a nightmare in Marathon 1, and which will take you along in its luggage to deliver native planet of the pht against Pfhors. Durandal is responsible for the control of the automatic systems of the vessel: doors (except the automatic doors which is under its indirect control), vital support, kitchens, recycleurs of air, stages etc
Tycho: Destroyed at the time of the initial attack of the Marathon, it will be reactivated by Pfhors.Tycho controls the technology and the network architecture of the vessel.

Planets

Sol is the name given to the sun. The solar system was gradually colonized by the human ones.
Earth: the planet of origin of humanity.
Mars: the first and the most important human colony after the Earth.
Tau Ceti is the objective of the vessel-colony Marathon . The colony will be founded into 2787 after more than 300 years of voyage. Tau Ceti is located at 92 years light of the Earth.
Lh' owon is the native planet of the pht. It is close to the center of the Milky Way, to 97 years lights of the core. In Marathon 2 Durandal will try to take again this planet of the hands of Pfhors. Lh' owon has the three moons, which are, in the order:

You jia
K' bound
Y' leasing

Vessels

Marathon is the name of the vessel colony that Pfhors attacked in Marathon 1.
Boomer is the vessel of the Pfhors taken by Durandal in Marathon 1 and which it rebatisé thus. It will be destroyed in Marathon 2. Gigantic, the Pfhor vessel measures nearly two kilometers length.
orbital vessels CRIST: Vessels CRIST (Cargo liner and Resources In-System Transport, or conveying cargo liner and resources intra-system) were immense vessels designed to move very great quantities of materials between the Earth and Mars with low costs. The system was simple. The CRIST was put into orbit around Sol in the field of the ecliptic. Built with a very effective solar sail, the CRIST could change orbit easily to pass by the Earth or Mars. The materials could be charged or discharged with the flight. The power consumption to accelerate or decelerate the materials, was provided by the solar sail. The loading was made by an immense system of wound fastener, which could send the material orbits about it behind the CRIST to return it gently. Unloading was done by a ray of ionic intense, which struck the material to be discharged with a powerful flow from particles. Although being of innovating design, program CRIST was a failure. Only five vessels were built and the production was stopped into 2310. The problem was the high costs of maintenance. The CRIST fell one by broken down less than one century after their construction. The CRIST being the principal means of supply of Mars, it followed from there a state of famine and devastation over Mars, which was hitherto a prosperous and rich colony.

Cyborgs Mjolnir Mark IV

The Cyborg Militaires Mjolnir Mark IV are an advanced type of cyborg, which were the first with being able to evolve/move without pointing out itself in the human society. Although they are composed of many human organs, Mjolnir are much faster, strong and resistant that any human. They are the most effective the combat weapon human on the ground.

After the war between the asteroid of Icarus and the Republic of Thermopylae in 2194, which saw the massive use of Mjolnir, the use of Cyborgs was strictly controlled. Nevertheless, ten Mjolnir Mark IV were introduced in secrecy into the Marathon before its launching, at the time of the insurrection over Mars. The insurrection failed, and one quickly forever known the intentions of the cyborgs on board Marathon.

The cyborgs were nevertheless very useful at the time of the attack of the colony on Tau Ceti by Pfhor in 2794: nine of them helped the colonists to push back Pfhor at the time of the first attack, but were destroyed during the massive bombardment of the second attack. One does not know exactly what it arrived at Tenth Mjonir remained on Marathon, but of the rumors say that it would only have pushed back the first wave of attack on Marathon, before leaving with the IA Durandal in captured a Pfhor vessel.

Evolution of the universe of Marathon

1993 : Left the Video game Pathways Into Darkness, whose Marathon will take again some elements of the history (the Jjaro appear there in particular).
1994 : Exit of the Video game Marathon.
1995 : The Lost Network Packets : In fact elements of the history have summers sent by Bungie to correct chronological problems in the history.

Left the Video games Marathon 2: Durandal.

1996 : Exit of the Video games Marathon infinity.

June 15th 1996 stop of publication of the Webzine Marathon Magazine.

2005 : The January 12th The Trilogy Release. The three Marathon plays are placed at the disposal for a noncommercial use.

Weapons

Gun: the .45 Magnum Mega Class (original) or .44 Magnum Mega Class A1 (Marathon 2) is the initial weapon in all the plays. The balls do much damage, but the sequence of the shootings is slow. There are only eight cartouches per charger. It is possible to draw in the space vacuum. The weapon can be double, a weapon in each hand.

Rifle of attack: M.75 Assault Files With Grenade Option (original) or MA-75B Battle Rifle (with integral 40mm Grenade Launcher) car more quickly than the gun (600 blow per minutes), and has 52 balls per refill, however each ball inflicts only damage light. The grenade S gathered are by seven charger, and make fire very slowly. The balls and the grenades cannot be drawn in the space vacuum.

Gun with fusion: Tech.50 Pistol Fusion or Zeus-Class Fusion Pistol is a weapon with energy which functions on battery and in the space vacuum. One can draw with the weapon from two ways: standard, or overloaded. The overload takes a certain time to charge and to kill the carrier little if the shooting does not occur can of time afterwards. In Marathon 2, this weapon causes more damage with the mechanical unit. It is the only weapon with being able to penetrate “Super fields of invulnerability”. If one draws under water, the shooting discharges instantaneously touching the close player and all other players.

Lance rockets: the SPNKR-X17 SM Launcher (Lazyboy) or SPNKR-XP SM Launcher is a weapon with two blows. The missiles are not guided. The zone of damage of a missile is of 10 meters. The maximum range is of 2,5 km and the speed of the rocket is of 110 m/s.

Lance flames: Tozt.25 Flame Links gold TOZT-7 Backpack Napalm Links is a Lance-flame with the Napalm with 7 seconds of continuous jet per cartridge. This weapon does not function in the space vacuum.

Rifle with pump: WSTE-M5 Combat Shotgun was introduced into Marathon 2 . The weapon can be double, a weapon in each hand.

machine-gun SMG: KKV-7 10mm SMG Flechette was introduced into Marathon Infinity . It is alone arms it which can draw under water. It draws very quickly.

the weapon alien: the weapon alien is released by the " enforcer" , and this since the first play, but with different characteristics. One throws the weapon after use, no means of reloading.

Vidmaster

The Vidmaster are the players who have a control out of the commun run of the Marathon plays. For them exists the Vidmaster Challenge . It is a question of finishing the play in maximum difficulty, while preventing certain strategies which could make the play easier. The whole is to play with the most possible style. (Certain players avoid using other very arms that fists, or to use the replenishers of life or the no-claims bonus of life!)

To test, it is enough to select the level of " difficulty; Carnage" total; in the preferences, then to click on " Partie" news; while pressing the keys Order (apple) and Option (alt). This makes it possible to choose the level where one wants to go, while starting with the basic equipment: a shield charged with 1x and for any weapon a gun with three refills.

Basic rules

“I pledge to punch all switches, to never shot where I could uses grenades, to admitted the existence off No level except Total Carnage, to never uses Capes Lock ace my `run' key, and to never, ever, leave has individual Bob alive. ”

To play in difficulty Total Carnage ;
Activate all the switches with the fist (and not with the key action);
to use only the grenades with the rifle of attack;
never not to use the key Capes Lock as touches to run (obliges the player to press permanently on a key to run);
To kill all Bob met (because they could help the player in Marathon 2 and Infinity.

Modes of play

Solitary: each Marathon plays is equipped with a scenario solo of several levels linear.

Multijoueurs :

Co-operative : You can make the scenarios with several. Implemented in Marathon 2, Marathon Infinity and later in MOD M1A1.
Deadmatch : There is a vast choice of chart for traditional Deadmatch. This option is built-in all the charts.
TEAM Deadmatch : It is a question between-of committing suicide but this time each one with a team. Colors of the team being that of the pants.
Master : It is about one play to the simple rule. A cranium should be held more the possible for a long time. While you hold cranium you cannot draw. All the other players want cranium and are armed.

Marathon today

Still today, the Marathon community is very active on Internet. For example, the forum of the site dedicated to the analysis of the history of Marathon still now receives tens of messages per day. The players daily create new charts for Marathon and play on Internet in network thanks to Aleph One.

The Open Source project: Aleph One

Aleph One is a project Open Source which makes it possible to make function the Marathon trilogy on the majority of the recent computers. The project saw the day in January 2000 following the publication of the engine of Marathon 2 by Bungie. Aleph One makes it possible to make function the plays Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity original, but not the first Marathon from which the engine was different, but a version of this one, M1A1 , was developed to function under Aleph One. Aleph One functions on many Operating system: Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, Windows, Linux, BSD, BeOS x86, BeOS PC… The stable last version is dated from the January 22nd 2005.

Marathon Resurrection

Marathon Resurrection is a free MOD for Unreal Tournament. It is a remake of Marathon , but given to the last style. Marathon Resurrection functions on all the versions of Unreal Tournament (Mac OS, Windows, Linux…).

Halation and Marathon

Halation, a more recent play of Bungie, repurchased under development full by Microsoft, division several resemblances to Marathon and is regarded by much as a Marathon 4 . One finds for example the logo of Marathon at several places in the play, the Chasseurs (Hunter), launches it rocket SPNKR, like some jokes found in Marathon .

The Eternal Project

The December 21st 2004, is more than ten years after the exit of the original play, left a new scenario for Marathon. Functioning on the engine Aleph One, it offers very detailed textures (envisage 64 Mo of video Mémoire!) and allows through its 48 levels and its new monsters and weapons to make revive Marathon.

The Trilogy Release

The January 12th 2005, Bungie announces that the trilogy of the Marathon (Marathon, Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity) is from now on downloadable free. The original handbooks and the official tools of edition (Forging mill, Anvil and their tutoriaux) are also available, as well as the versions for Windows of Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity.

Development tools

Editors

Official editors of Bungie (Mac maximum OS 9)

Forging mill: to publish and create charts and scenarios (files Map )
Anvil: for the files Shapes , Sounds and Music

Other editors for Mac OS 9

ResEdit, of Apple: allows to create and publish the files Images .
Chisel : Editor of Map filling the gaps of Forging mill .
Sound Editor : Editor of files sounds ( Sounds ), more advanced than the tools integrated in Anvil .
Wail : Editor of files Sounds , successor of Sound Editor .
Hex! : Editor of terminals.
Cranberry : Editor facilitating the creation of scripts ml and Lua.

Editors for Mac OS X

Pfhorge : version improved of Forging mill for Mac OS X, which benefits from the improvements of Aleph One.
Aleph One spins typing tools : These small applications change the typing of the Marathon files to make them readable by the various versions of Aleph One

Languages of scripts

Marathon Markup Language (MML)

Scripts ml make it possible to modify the elements of the play or the engine. They can be integrated in the files Map .

The ml is based on the language XML.

Lua

Lua is another language of scriptage of Aleph One. It in particular makes it possible to modify the gameplay radically Marathon. Following the example scripts ml, Lua scripts can be integrated daN a file Map .

See too

Internal bonds

Marathon
Marathon 2: Durandal
Marathon Infinity
Chronology of Marathon

External bonds

http://marathon.bungie.org: the official site of Marathon
The Trilogy Release: remote loading of the full versions of the trilogy Marathon and its editors of levels
Marathon: Aleph One: the site of the project Open Source Marathon, Aleph One
Aleph One SDL Scenarios: scenarios for Aleph One: M1A1, demonstrations of Marathon 2 and Infinity, etc
Marathon Resurrection: the MOD Marathon for Unreal Tournament
The Eternal Project: the site of the scenario Marathon Eternal Mark V
Marathon' S Story: site on the history of Marathon
MaraWiki: Wiki dedicated to Marathon
The Spoiler Guides: soluce supplements of the three play of the trilogy Marathon and several other scenarios
The Marathon Vidmastr' S Page: The official site of Vidmaster Challenge

Random links:

Equip with Lebanon of basketball | Elie Aoun | Karel Schoeman | Staro Selo (Jagodina) | Karma Lingpa