JKE has most certainly deserved being Level of the Week for about 10 years now.

But the time has come for change.

What is Backup Base 1.1?

A level truly ahead of its time.

Backup Base 1.1 was created by Kroko.

Kroko is the future-past son/grandfather of GBK, and the author of the legendary level Backup Base 1.1.

Some say that he spends his nights plotting revenge for the downfall of the Nazi Regime, and that his diet consists entirely of deep-fried garlic snaps.

All we know is, he's called the KROKODILE.

What does Backup Base 1.1 mean for you?

I couldn't look at JK the same way ever again, for it brought tears to my eyes.

I nearly gave up JK editing at that point as I knew I would never be able to exceed Backup Base 1.1.

That's why it's not so high on the download count list. It blew people's minds and would have stopped JK editing way too soon.

It was just so far outside the box, so people couldn't wrap their brains around it.

Not many people know that there was a reason why Kroko didn't include the required custom texture in the first version.

He was trying to save us from the truth.

But eventually he relented and... people just looked away since they were afraid.

They were afraid of his raw genius. His pure creativity.

As it so happens, even Kroko wasn't able to withstand what lied within Backup Base 1.1.

He looked at his creation and wept.

Did Michelangelo weep when he finished painting the Sistine Chapel?

Because Backup Base 1.1 was no lesser feat.

Henceforth

It's time for Backup Base 1.1 to replace JKE on The Massassi Temple's main page.

i say do it until the spooky fart forces tc is released, which will then become the permanent level of the always

Instead, how about: a post on the main page encouraging users to play it?

are you talking about the citizen kane tc?

Yes

Nikumubeki's post might be the single most persuasive, moving thing I've ever read.

And so informative.

Wow, same. I had to flush twice.

IIRC, most of those lines were written by GBK.

I compiled them together for this article.

... in fact, Backup Base 1.1 remains whereas I have been deleted!

This meme is getting out of hand, or probably already did a good while back.

Also, thinking back, it's not just that the architecture is almost nonexistent and the texturing is repetitive beyond tedium. Another thing is that the layout is just atrocious: it's basically one tube that extends into a small descending bit at one end. There are no interconnected paths, no deviations from said tube. It's like the players are trapped in a nightmare of incompetence, my vision engulfing them in a sea of suck. The greatest comfort for those poor souls is the easy access to quit to desktop, and the greatest comfort for me is that so few ever actually played this abomination in the first place.

Some 17 years later, I'm not sure what I was thinking making this level. I should hope that it was nothing at all, because if I put any actual thought into it, that just may be the most alarming thing to Backup Base.

No, that's NEO-TODOA.

Also, I think that was just about every beginner level at the time. I made at least 5 or so "finishable" "levels" for JK and MotS in 1998-1999 that all were variations on this:

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Somebody needs to invent the genre of Jedi Knight horror level, in which the developer of the level narrates a Max Payne style nightmare about the horrors of his role in the creation of the level itself, breaking the fourth wall as the user walks through it, and generally terrorizing them.

You could also make it humorously sadistic, like a Choose Your Own Adventure book that only has bad endings, but in this case only because of the developer's incompetence, which the user now not only has to experience, but is forced to listen to taunting narration about while doing so.

It could be marketed to incompetent level editors a post-modern form of therapy for developers who suffer from latent JED trauma, in which they transfer negative memories onto their user, repackaged as self-deprecating entertainment.

This already describes every single post by FGR: "I am depressed about the fact that I made something in JED (so please play my level while you think about me)".

Pannukakku boys are at it again!

oh, daddy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYj67C-4gHU#t=6m33s

Someone should earn a million dollars from a movie deal based on a JK horror level.

I actually did that a few years back, it was hilarious. My favorite part was the room that had a bunch of Grans in it with thermals, but the ceiling was super low so if you stood far enough back their throws would hit the ceiling and damage them. Watching a bunch of AI kill themselves is funny.

i voted, but! tl;dr and for posterity and for perma-level that green acid level by MaDaVentor
i think it would be fitting

Why would that be fitting? You should read the post.

I did read it eventually, it is highly amusing.

To answer your question, I think it would be fitting because it's a level from the times when JK editing was at its height, it was one of the prettiest levels for its time, thelimelite.net is down, and, therefore, it would be fitting to commemorate one of this community's kinder and more talented editors who died from brain cancer at 13 or so IIRC should there be such a thing as a perma-level, heh.

That said, I have not played Kroko's level, but I'm sure it's all it's hyped out to be and more.

I do have high hopes that the upcoming action-adventure Star Wars game is going to feature Kyle Katarn, though. I'm much less convinced it's going to be editable, however, but if that would be the case, would be pretty epic if Massassi would revert to its game-editing roots. IMO. Peace & love & all that.

This emperor is without clothes, I'm afraid. The hype is a meme between GBK and he-who-gamess-ever-so-fast. I made the level in 2000, and it's an extremely crude and downright offensive exercise in wasting server space. Granted, that's not a whole lot of space, but every single kilobyte serves to warn of the perils of JED abuse. To subject this abomination upon the unsuspecting members of Jedi Knightdom recalls some of the wickedest sins of mankind. I will carry this burden on my conscience for the rest of my days, for only death is to relieve me of its weight. In 2000, that fateful year, I thought I was driven by a beautiful vision. Instead of that I was pushed by a conceited delusion. And so as the grim shadows of reality eclipse any hopes of redemption, to take it all back is a bittersweet fantasy in which I like to indulge.

Make no mistake: Backup Base sucks.

That's a great idea!

I think you should do it, Brian.

Then there needs to be a level entitled 'Ode to Backup Base', with this poetic lament as the level description.

Forget it, Nikumubeki. It's Chinatown.

This should still happen, you know

This still should happen, you know

How's about a no!

: |

That said, the current SotD has been there for almost two years now as well, I think it should be replaced with this one https://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?68167-Made-a-JK-texture-a-bit-better-then-it-was&p=1232180&viewfull=1#post1232180

But is it a good level? Should I download it and use up precious SSD space?

If its Kroko it must be good.

If Echoman endorses it, it must be good. ****, I was afraid there'd be a loophole to get me to approve of Kroko.

It's a horrendous level, but if there's one thing it has going for it, it's that it won't take up a lot of your precious SSD space. Even then, though, those kilobytes are better used for almost anything else.

I take back my endorsement, the level wasn't very good. Kroko, I demand answers.



Why is there just dead-end? There is nothing here. Is this an artistic statement?



Why are these items just floating when the others just on the ground? Do you hate the player Kroko?



aaaaaaaaaaaa



Look at this incline. Kroko, why?



The level is completely full-bright. Why did you include batteries?

Dammit, ECHOMAN, you're not supposed to actually play this level!

(That possibly makes you and Tibby the only people who have done so! https://www.massassi.net/levels/files/1104.shtml)

But... FGR, you too played this level ...right?

Oh no, that would betray the GBK-FGR Backup Base Shtick of 2014 and onwards

dude it's just a backup, it's not the real base.

Greetings! I am Krokodile, the author of such levels as Backup Base and Backup Base 1.1, both for Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, which is a game by LucasArts Entertainment Company (LEC) released in 1997. When I released Backup Base in the year 2000 and Backup Base 1.1 sometime later in that same year, I was known by the name JG_Jiggajagga. JG stood for Jedi Guardians, which was my clan on zone.com at the time.

As the author of the level in question, I will be your guide to all things Backup Base and Backup Base 1.1. It delights me that my creations are generating interest to this day. Many people still come to me with their fond memories of playing these levels, and I'm always happy to share exciting details about the creation process from behind the scenes and to take players deeper into the lore of Backup Base and Backup Base 1.1.

So without further ado, let's get to the questions:

1. The so-called dead-end was where they kept equipment for the backup troops. It's empty during the level because the backup base had mostly been exhausted of backup. The reason you don't see any storage cabinets or the like is that those were portable, so when the backup was called from the base, the troops would just haul the portable cabinets with them and then unload and gear up before a mission.

2. The generator that powered the base's gravitational field was glitching, and because the backup base was considered to be on the brink of redundancy, the Empire didn't expend the resources to repair the generator. The malfunction caused the anomaly seen in the screenshot. Ironically, the base lacked a backup generator.

3. The base used a certain model of droid that required such an incline for vertical movement. The angle had to be matched to the droids' specifications, and this was rather suboptimal for the movement of humans, as you can probably tell by looking at it.

4. Those were some of the troops' equipment. All the power-ups in the level had been left behind because the troops had to lighten the portable cabinets just enough not to exceed the maximum load limit for the carrier spacecraft that took them on their last mission.

By the way, as the backup troops proved to be inept on their last mission due to a long period of inactivity, the backup base was shut down and the troops were assigned to various ordinary posts which had nothing to do with providing backup. Once in a while, the backup troops would get together for some drinks to reminisce about their time together on the backup base.