Mendelevium Prison:

     Mendelevium is a radioactive element artificially produced.  That seems 
to sum up the direction of this level in succinct and metaphorical words.
A Prison is, of course, a place where someone keeps prisoners.  I don't
know who, and I don't know for what, or why they are being held, but it
seems like a likely scheme given the motif of descent.  Therefore, you,
the player get a vile mixture of vision and insanity in Mendelevium Prison.

     The object is to retrieve the prisoners and get the heck out.  Unlike
most any other level I've player, you are indeed required to retrieve the
prisoners in Mendel's Prison or else risk not being able to get out.  The
mission requires you to retrieve specific operatives who are in danger
of handing over secrets or defecting.  Without those prisoners, you can not
get out.  

Spoilers:
     Five basic rooms exist.  The first is a very large cavernous
area that is meant to seem like space itself, although you start out on
a pedastal.  Sentries exist everywhere.  Some are beligerent and others
are only posts.  The central depot leads to all of the other rooms.  This
is the most complex room and will, undoubtedly slow down your computer.  I
am sorry about this, but to accomplish what I have done here, it was
neccesary.  I tried very hard to make the room as efficient as possible by
eliminating long sight lines and cumbersome voids.  In effect though, the
room became somewhat gaudy.  It's much prettier in the original form.
Four torture and holding areas exist.  Three of them are major rooms.  
     The first of which is the Pit of Infinite supplication.  The name comes 
from the shape of a hallway over the pit that is shaped like an infinity 
symbol.  The blue key can be found here as well as 2 prisoners.  The second 
major room is Watcher's Perch.  A novel concept, but wholly unreal, is that 
there exists a room below the lava pit from which you can observe what is 
going on in the other room.  To get to Watcher's Perch, you must have the 
blue key.  The perch has a trip switch that opens the next part of the level 
to you.  The third major room is a secondary holding site(Nether Confines).  
You have to have been to Watcher's Perch to acquire access to the prisoners 
of Nether Confines.  A covert operative has penetrated the confines and is 
waiting there for you with the yellow access card.  He is a bit edgy though 
and may shoot you before you have a chance to reap his reward.  Yellow Zone 
is intended to be a two way prison with no bars.  The prisoner is stuck in
a room.  He knows the only way out is by shooting his way out, but if he
gets the gun, he'll trip the switch and set off the spider producers.  This
would work well, except devil started eating my levels after I put in more
than two producers, so I gave up on more producers(I would have liked many
more).  Get the gun.  Saving this prisoner gives you access to the outside
world once again.  Destroy the baddies, get the red key and blow the reactor.
     I worked on this one for a very long time.  If it crashes, that's ok.  It 
is very complex and stresses the limits of descent in all categories.  In fact,
the maximum dimension of a level were not available to me, but I guessed at
800 cubes, 60 walls and God knows how many items.  By the way, I like it very
dark in all of my levels.  When I play them, I turn off the lights.  It's a
profoundly more exileration experience that way.  If it's too dark, just
fire some flares.  If you run out of energy, the recharge zones are located
between the light and the field in the central annex of the Starting Room.
I would have put in more field walls, but that would have gone over the
60 wall limit.  Fourteen Prisoners exist in all.  Not all of them are
essential, but I'm sure they will all be gratefull.

Later,
Arlo...

