Soooo first off, hope everyone had a good Summer Solstice on Monday!
This was supposed to be started then but didn't quite make it. So what is the Plantation House contest? Well, PH is the level between JR and IJ which was cut before release. We have precious few screenshots taken from within it, and mere scraps remain of material which was to go inside it.
(Click on thumbnail for full size)
(Click on thumbnail for full size)
There was of course the Plantation House itself, a music file titled "MUSIC - PH", ambient sounds featuring the "PH" identifier, a texture in BE b96 called "TrnObj_PHstreambed00t2.bmp", and a base texture (such as the one we have for PV) found in IJ b96 called "TPHBaset2.bmp".
Further more, the Original Walkthrough contained a section describing the planned contents of PH:
- Spoiler: show
Plantation House
Having crossed the gorge, Anne is left on the final support of the monorail at the top of a ridge marking one of the foothills of Mt. Crick, just to her west. This is her first sight of the interior of the island, and it should be breathtaking - from here she can see Mt. Watson off in the distance, probably make out the plains, and get a good look at some of the terrain she is about to enter. The view of the town should be blocked by the rise between it and the Plantation House area.
*Down the hill
Anne can follow the remnants of another dirt road down off the side of Mt. Crick. The jungle here is getting a little darker and the mist getting heavier - it is no longer quite so comforting a place to be wandering through.
*Dinosaurs on parade
When Anne reaches the bottom of the hill, the road suddenly empties out into a large clearing, and this clearing is filled with dinosaurs! A triceratops family is peacefully grazing off to one side while an albertosaur lurks farther back in the trees, before making a sudden charge. The combatants will disappear down a slope to the northwest, and Anne would be wise not to follow.
*Just when you thought you were safe
Anne needs to cross the open area - she probably saw the construction area (below) from atop the railway, and knows the town is in that direction anyway. However, as she crosses the area, she is very exposed. The player may not feel this, but when the stegs suddenly all look up from their grazing, and perhaps issue a warning call, she should begin to question her safety.
Sure enough, two raptors are stalking her from the border of the woods. One is quite small, actually a child, and is just learning to hunt by observing its parent, so they aren't quite the ruthless killing team seen in the films. However, as soon as they get close enough, the larger one will rush from cover towards Anne. There are many sticks and rocks littered around this area, and if Anne isn't already carrying something, she will have ample time to prepare, while the adult raptor circles, making occasionally lunges. The young raptor will lurk just outside the combat, waiting for an opportunity. The adult raptor is fairly easily discouraged if the player hits it a time or two, and if Anne hits the child at all, it will flee, and its parent will run after it.
If the player isn't very inventively combative, they may try to flee. The raptors can easily overtake her, however, so the only safe bet is to flee toward the stegs, who are on guard, and will ignore Anne and attack the raptors if they get too close.
*Hunter camp
If the player chooses to head east instead of north across the open plain (or comes back in that direction later) they will come to a valley cul-de-sac where the hunter camp from The Lost World was set up. Although the base was wrecked and abandoned, it is still full of useful items, and the defensive perimeter the hunters set up is still mostly intact.
The perimeter consists of a series of pit traps and dino-sized bear traps. Some of the pit traps are still concealed with dead branches and other foliage, but others yawn open. None of these defenses will prove fatal to Anne: the pits conveniently have enough garbage at their bottom that Anne can always make a staircase out if she falls in, and the beartraps hinder her movement if they clamp on to her leg, and require a fair amount of time to remove, but will come off. The perimeter mainly exists to slow the player down and give them something new to think about as they walk along.
Within the hunter camp many burned vehicles and flattened tents are strewn about the area. In a crate or a not-quite-so-wrecked vehicle Anne will find her first gun, and possibly a dino prod (electrical shock stick). Elsewhere there is a map which reveals the location of the Manor House and an alternate approach to the InGen town.
Construction Site
If the player heads almost due north across the open area, trying to follow the dirt road that led down from the mountain, she will come across a valley where the other end of the monorail was being built. This is an obvious entrance to the town, but unfortunately the valley has been sealed by a huge landslide which also brought down the monorail.
However, there is something for the player to do here - an extremely long piece of plywood (part of a form) extends horizontally from the top of the last monorail support. In this case, the player can get at it by dragging crates from their nearby position to make a stack next to the portable toilet or construction office, climbing up on top of the trailer, and using something suitably long (like a piece of rebar with a stick clamped to the end by a dino trap, for instance) to knock the wood down.
*Mysterious walls
Some old stone walls (European style) trace partial lines through the jungle to the west of the open area and construction site. If Anne is curious enough to follow them, she will come upon a foundation of a tiny building and a very old path running behind a stream, which leads southwest to the Plantation House
*At the house
At a bend in the river, the ruins of an ancient Spanish plantation house offer a tempting place for Anne to explore. If she has already been to the hunter camp, she knows that the hunters had marked the house as a location for a possible secondary base, and she should be even more tempted to explore.
*House puzzle
*Albertosaur attack
At some point while Anne is inside the house, she will hear the angry roar of an approaching Albertosaur. This half-sized version of a T-Rex will proceed to rip the house apart, knowing Anne is inside. The player must avoid the obviously weak rooms and walls of the house, and stay towards the center (or maybe get in to the basement) until the dinosaur eventually gives up and moves off. Possibly some active interference on Anne's part may encourage this behavior - such as luring the dinosaur into attacking very unstable parts of the structure which will collapse, hurting it.
*To the shore
When the Albertosaur has left the area, Anne can feel free to explore around some more. A fairly obvious path leads further southwest, away from the house. Near the shore, it terminates at a 5m cliff, likely too tall to safely jump down, and anyway, the player would be stuck on the beach if she jumped down and survived.
*Down to the beach
Getting the hook
Once Anne makes it down to the beach, she will discover the remains of the wealthy family's picnic from the beginning of The Lost World. The tables, chairs, and other items have been strewn about by recent high winds, and some things have even become lodged in the surrounding trees, like a very long, sturdy-looking boathook. Anne must get this down by throwing stuff at it, or possibly gathering other debris around the beach like the picnic table and making a stack high enough to reach it, or at least reach it with a pole (somewhat like the construction area puzzle).
*Balancing beam
As well, an abundance of voiceovers can be traced to PH:
- Spoiler: show
Anne042: first sight of dinosaur
Anne042a
(under her breath)
Oh man. He really did it.
Anne043: Moving near herbivore for the first time
Anne043a
Just relax, I'm not going to hurt you.
Anne044: If dinos start to get alarmed
Anne044a
(trying nervously to soothe them)
Okay, shh, shh. Sleepy dinosaur.
Anne045: Close to a triceratops
Anne045b
(nervously)
Tri-triceratops, right?
(a moment)
They don't know their names.
HAMMOND
A lost world is a sort of scientific myth. An evolutionary scenario in which an ecosystem is isolated and preserved. The rest of the world changes, leaving a tiny, fragile pocket where ancient species survive.
Anne046: After Hammond's "Lost World" speech
Anne046a
Yada yada yada…
HAMMOND
Velociraptor, a small theropod. Native to China and Mongolia. Pack-hunter, quite vicious, and quite intelligent.
Anne047: Sees the raptors
Anne047b
(fascinated, scared)
Velociraptors. The killers.
Anne048: First dinosaur attack – Anne sees a single raptor approaching, and slowly realizes that it means to prey on her
Anne048b
Get away, shoo!
Anne049: First dinosaur attack – as it gets close – she is panicking, babbling a little
Anne049a
Oh, no. Oh god no.
AnneLightHit001: The first time Anne takes damage
AnneLightHit001a
(she is surprised, shocked – until this moment, she wasn't quite certain the danger was real)
Ow!
Anne050: Her first dinosaur attack – when she hits it, panic starts to become desperate rage and strength
Anne050g
Die! Die!
AnneDinoKill001: Once it is fleeing or dead
AnneDinoKill001 a
(panting) I'm fine. I'm fine. Oh god.
AnneDinoKill001 b
(an afterthought)
Who would have thought. (takes a breath) That I could do that.
Anne051: Sees dead guy
Anne051a
Oh, that's not good. That's not good. I'm not going to make it back from here, am I?
AnneGetGun002: Picks up revolver, first time
AnneGetGun002b
Heavier than I thought.
Anne052: Sees Tyrannosaur
Anne052a
(afraid, but in awe)
Oh no. Nothing's that big.
Anne053: As it moves off
Anne053a
She's beautiful.
HAMMOND
3 Cray-XMP's moved more data, faster, than any computer center in the Americas.
Anne054: Following Hammond's boast
Anne054b
Nerd!
HAMMOND
The hunters landed on May 13, 1997, deep in the island's southwest. Most of them had worked at my African parks for years. They never stood a chance.
Anne055: Comes upon wrecked camp.
Anne055a
This is where they died.
Anne056: In the camp.
Anne056a
All those men.
Anne057: At video setup
Anne057b
Some kind of broadcast setup. No use now.
Anne058: Picks up a soot-stained metal camping dish
Anne058a
Hammond never mentioned a fire. I wonder how it started.
Anne059: picks up crushed laptop in hunter camp
Anne059b
Technical. Must have had a cel modem.
Anne060: At monorail construction area
Anne060d
They certainly were serious about their monorail.
Anne061: As she moves or opens some container in the hunter camp, hunting for a communications device
Anne061a
…a radio, a phone. A can with a string.
HAMMOND
November 1985. Test fertilization of an artificial ovum. My hands shook as I held the tiny eye dropper. One drop, two drops. There! The genie was out of the bottle.
Anne062: Hammond line, "November 1985. Test fertilization of an artificial ovum…"
Anne062a
I was in high school then.
AnneUseGun001: Fires pistol, first time
AnneUseGun001a
So that's what that feels like!
Anne063: Near a brachiosaur
Anne063a
Now that is an incredible smell.
Hammond line, "I began to have my first inkling of the seriousness of our work – how deep the well was. This was life from 65 or 100 million years before mankind."
Anne064:
Anne064b
(scared by this)
I've really done it. This is not a normal situation.
Anne065: In the courtyard of the old Plantation House
Anne065a
Beautiful. Spanish colonial.
Anne067: Finds the bar of gold under a loose board
Anne067a
It's coffee gold. Slaver gold.
Anne068: Hears falling timbers (prelude to the Albertosaur attack)
Both
What's that?
Anne069: Between Plantation House and beach
Anne069a
I can smell the ocean.
AnneGet003: Toy found on beach
AnneGet003a
Must have been that little girl's.
There are also three voiceovers of Hammond's referring to PH:
VH81: A failed coffee plantation of the 1860s. Fields were marked out by stone walls, and to the west, the ruins of the plantation house still stand.
VH82: We took a shortcut south to reach the site, west along the stream, until a tall tree shows itself with a cluster of boulders at its base.
VH83: Then walked northward, until the path appears.
This, and a general knowledge of PH's location, pretty well sums up what we know about the level. What did the the rest look like? We don't know! This brings us to the premise of the contest: using the template level (constructed by me), reconstruct PH according to your own vision. The contest begins today; entries must be submitted to me via PM by August 1st, 12:00 am Pacific Time.
https://app.box.com/s/2wcksh3zsm26l58rwgse8m02t663uv2s
Everyone get farming! I mean, modding!
PS: An additive Stream TPA file will be released at a later date containing beta voiceovers (of Hammond's and Anne's) which go with the level (and are already scripted in triggers therein).
EDIT: Here is the first (and probably only) "extras" release for the PH contest. It contains 4 mystery model chairs not seen before in released levels (to my knowledge), 2 voiceover trigger fixes (the first two VH ones had "VA42" instead), a custom loading image, and an additive TPA containing the beta Hammond and Anne voiceovers used in the released level. See readme for more info... Enjoy!
https://app.box.com/s/001n0k6ny033wys5ehgj4ojbbekt12bg