[message taken from the Abuse Forum]

Name: /Messiah\ (51-pm9.nwc.alaska.net)
Date: 10-01-99 17:16

For those of you out there who have played Mecheden and didn't know what was going on, 
maybe this will help you. This was in a text file that I am gonna send to some webpages 
maybe today or tomorrow (cause I'm kinda tied up today)... 

HTH, Justin 

--------- 
ABOUT 
--------- 

This is the FINAL version of my Mecheden level, which is the undisputed largest, 
monstrosity of a level that Abuse (and possibly side-scrolling games in general) has ever 
seen. It's more like a network of levels, really... :) It's too big for it's own good. If there was 
ever a way to split it up, I could make probably 17 regular large Abuse levels out of it, but 
there is no cut-and-paste available in the current incarnation of Abuse, so this isn't gonna 
happen unless Jonathan updates the engine. 

This, version 2.3 is for play on the regular, unmodified *full* version of Abuse. There is 
another version somewhere on my Jaz drive, which I'm gonna dub 'version 3.0' that is 
modified for the following: 

- Aliens Abuse modifications (1997 Mike Moss) 
- Claudio Bolzoni's modifications (1997 Claudio Bolzoni) 
- Queen Face Hugger modification (1997 me) 
- Boss Ant modification (1997 me) 
... and it's a tad bit bigger. 

It's got a lot more stuff, and once my Jaz drive works, you will see this version, and the 
aforementioned addon files it requires. But until then, I leave you this, in it's unfinished form. 
It will remain unfinished forever until Abuse supports more objects and art. There was a point 
where there were so many things in Mecheden that it would crash once you reached a certain 
point. It sucked, but anyways... :) 

--------------------------------------- 
HOW TO PLAY MECHEDEN 'CORRECTLY' =) 
--------------------------------------- 

The original idea was to have four sections of the level, and once you reached the end of each 
section, there was a 'master switch' (shown by a 'switchonce' and a 'pointer') that would 
activate the 'final teleporter'. To find the 'final teleporter', start the level, and go thru the start 
teleporter. The area where you IMMEDIATELY teleport to is the area where the 'final teleporter' 
is. In edit mode, you'll notice that the celing of the beginning pentagon-shaped room is false... 
these are broken by the 'master switches' and above it is the 'final teleporter'. If you want to 
know where it goes, go to edit mode and jump (j) to the top of the cave area (access it through 
the map function, m) or just use the 'FT'. 

The first two sections of the level (which are accessed by teleporter from near the beginning of 
the stage) are completely playable. These sections took me about an hour and a half to complete, 
and it's hard. :) The third and fourth sections are a bit different... they 'intertwine' through each 
other so if you fell on accident, you would go to a different section. The first area is 'normal', the 
second is full of mines and stuff, and the third is the 'pits'. The fourth goes through 'the pits'. 

------- 
FIN 
------- 

It's kinda like those works of literature that aren't ever gonna be finished... Mecheden is an 
unfinished project which I put about a year and a half into. I hope you get some enjoyment out 
of it, and have fun messing with it in edit mode. :) 

sayonara con mucho queso, 
Justin Cassidy (ex-Team Firestorm)