Tunnels under Crystal Lake

[Dead Reckoner]

I know E4 gets random, but I never understood what the last parts of E4M4 were supposed to represent. After jumping down a toilet, the player discovers a small network of flooded passages that still look fresh and have electric lighting. At one end, they open at the bottom of the lake, and at the other, they open to an underground grotto that leads to a world of lava and ruins (or a shopping mall).

Sunken mine shaft? Interdimensional expressway? Something randomly stitched together when Monolith were running out of time?

[Daedalus]

An interesting question. So everything seems to indicate that this piece was part of the very end of Blood's development cycle. I can't find anything to support it being repurposed from earlier maps either - it bears no resemblance to Raw Sewage, for example.
The passages themselves are fairly well detailed and of course there was even time for a secret with a reference in them. The secret references a sewer-dwelling monster, so that cements the idea that the least interesting interpretation here is probably correct: it is simply a sewer which links the toilet to other parts of the map.

I think that as is so frequently the case with Dead Reckoning, this is unfortunately a product of time constraints rather than any other form of inspiration. It was a fairly quick and dirty solution to get the player to where they needed to be while adding some connectivity between other parts of the map. It would be very expensive to reproduce the opening of Fire and Brimstone or Mall of the Dead (and so we continue the trend of questionable interconnectivity in the episode), so it feels like the mapper (Craig) needed a quick solution to wrap things up.

Crystal Lake's winding design goes a bit against the grain of general retail Blood level design. The map would have connectivity problems if it continued on the forest path, so I think the sewer is a clever, if somewhat uninspired means of linking everything together without much complexity and cost.

Or who knows, maybe they told Craig he had a day to wrap it up and he just threw it out there.

[Daedalus]

Something I remembered and checked a moment ago is that it's possible to read from the maps in which sequence objects were added, which can be a fascinating door into speculation. From a glance it appears as if the toilet was the starting point for developing that part of the map, and this was established somewhat early in the map's design. Next followed the stone passage that you fall into. Then the artificial structure was added, with the end exit passage being built at the very end - notably some time after the construction of the initial parts. This suggests that the initial loop was created between the "lake" and the "toilet" segment, while the exit passage was bolted on later, with the "watery cave" made absolutely last.

Perhaps the mapper built the level to that point, parked it and then came back later to rapidly finish it, realizing very little time was remaining, and threw on the finishing touches. It's absolutely a rushed level finish, perhaps the single-most egregious example of poor connectivity in retail Blood, which makes it all the more fascinating. Perhaps there was intended to be a little more there that time simply didn't allow.

Another thought struck me: was there a moment in which it was considered that the player was going to emerge in the large lake and continue the level there instead? This would require some modification to the earlier parts, and of course disallowing the player from entering that part sooner. This looping would also be more in-line with general Blood (or even BUILD) level design. Interesting thought, but the evidence seems to suggest no.

[Dead Reckoner]

Interesting findings and investigative work!

At first, I excluded the sewer explanation because the toilet just looks like an outhouse, and the hole leading from its pit to the underwater passages looks like it was randomly blown open rather than built with a connection. For some reason, I also mistakenly remembered the walls having notice papers, which would imply it was recently flooded. But now that you mention it, the X-Files reference all but confirms it was intended to be a sewer.

Time constraints would explain why it looks slightly out of place to have a high-tech sewer like that just for a camp and lake in the middle of the woods, but it's still a well-designed and moody ending to the map, and more interesting than swimming through some generic underwater cavern.

E4M4 is lower quality and more linear than most of Blood's other maps, but still great nevertheless.

Another thought struck me: was there a moment in which it was considered that the player was going to emerge in the large lake and continue the level there instead? This would require some modification to the earlier parts, and of course disallowing the player from entering that part sooner. This looping would also be more in-line with general Blood (or even BUILD) level design. Interesting thought, but the evidence seems to suggest no.

The map progressing backwards, beginning in the sewer and lake, would have provided opportunities for more continuity with the preceding Charnel House.

[Daedalus]

I thought it would be nice to add some images of the curious case of the tunnels towards the end of Crystal Lake.
I've taken these with the underwater filter absent for clarity, though obviously that detracts from the mood a bit.
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Crystal01.png (176.81 KiB) Viewed 137 times

This is where we enter from the toilet. A fairly stock standard 'irregular rock' texture giving way immediately to a more cavernous type, suggesting a developed area transitioning towards a natural one. What's interesting here is the choice of soil for the floor - that somewhat contradicts the idea that the cavern was blown open, which is the sense I get that it was going for. It seems instead to be kind of a natural cavern that happened to be between the two areas.
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Crystal02.png (149.89 KiB) Viewed 137 times

The gap leading towards the areas in question. The wall texture for it is a smaller set of grey stones. This is the transition texture between the artificial structure and the natural rocks. The appearance of the hole would suggest it was blown open with explosives to me.
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Crystal03.png (143.85 KiB) Viewed 137 times

Inside the artificial sewer. This corner has some detail to it. The light is "weird" to the real world, but in Blood it's actually somewhat common to have artificial light sources present underwater.
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Crystal04.png (145.33 KiB) Viewed 137 times

The entry to the secret. This is what you were remembering with regards to signage. It's somewhat foreboding and the mapper used almost every warning sign the game has for it. A strange choice is the literal "warning" sign on the left. It's paper! Why would a paper sign be used underwater?
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Crystal05.png (170.67 KiB) Viewed 137 times

The secret in question. Very prominent lights situated underwater. It gives the area a slightly grand feeling. I suspect this was added as flavour for the secret, making things feel "presented" in their way. Ammunition for the life leech, which of course is also found in this map (though not the first one of the episode).
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Crystal06.png (113.31 KiB) Viewed 137 times

The rest of the tunnels can mostly be captured by just this image. There are some small alcoves on the sides to break up the regularity of the passage, but otherwise they are your basic stock square passage with a few areas to surface.