Description

Unofficial expansion pack by former Ritual Entertainment level designer Thearrel "Kiltron" McKinney. Contains three large, high quality complex maps with custom music. Unfortunately the rest of the planned twelve maps are not available.

Preview
Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2 - Between Heaven And Hell
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conroy_bumpus
conroy_bumpus - - 200 comments

i never knew about these mission packs. ty!

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AntonioR Author
AntonioR - - 86 comments

There is almost no info about it left on the Internet. Some guy posted links for only the first two maps of BHAH on Ritualistic forums, and one YouTuber made a video showing all three maps and posted a download link. She may be the only one that still had that third map. I uploaded it all here in a hope more people will find it, since the levels are very well made. Also, I just found out the developer stopped working on it when he left Ritual Entertainment and used the rest of the maps for another game in another company.

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Kiltron
Kiltron - - 5 comments

I'm the only person that would know anything about these levels and the add-on in detail. Other than old geometry and gameplay layouts that were fleshed out and contracted out, I still have several FAKK 2 levels that were nearly finished but have no desire to revisit them. One level was a bloody sewers level. Another was a torture dungeon. One was a flying level where you chase down the planet that attacked your village and a few others. You could also swim in one of the levels where whenever you hopped into the water, it would go into first person swimming mode. The add-on also contained many new assets and with permission from Robert Atkins I was given cut / unused assets from the original game to use. There were new enemies, statues, etc. There was a new hud, new intro, new skins, enemies, levels, music, sounds and I was even working on getting Julie Strain to do some new lines of dialog.

No, Dark Salvation has nothing to do with old the FAKK 2 add-on. There might have been some small bits of geometry / art that I had done for the Quake 3 mod but then started using in a FAKK 2 level I was working on in my spare time that I recycled yet again and reused in Dark Salvation but it is just brush work that I didn't want to waste. I had originally started working on a Quake 3 mod back before I was hired by Ritual Entertainment called Legacy of the Vadrigar which was going to be a Single Player add-on that was a story about the Bones character. That obviously got put on hold as I got hired and settled into Ritual Entertainment. I worked on the Quake 3 and FAKK 2 mods on and off during my stint at Ritual Entertainment. After my duration there, I resumed the mod and other stuff but shortly after that, Carmack released the Quake 3 source and I was able to make a standalone game which resulted in me being able to do Dark Salvation instead of a mod that required Quake 3.

With that said, This is not an expansion called Between Heaven and Hell. What you have posted are individual maps released by themselves that were part of a planned add-on of that title that was never released.

Anything else you want to know, just ask. I haven't done any community stuff in years but I check in on stuff once in a while.

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AntonioR Author
AntonioR - - 86 comments

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed reply.

From your description the add-on sounds very ambitious, even for a team, not to mention one person. If the rest of the levels were as big as these three it would probably be as big as the full game. I think the original game was a bit short, it ended suddenly and I felt not all game mechanics had the chance to be used in full potential. I felt like maybe one or two hours were probably cut, either because of budget or deadlines. Any comment on that ? Not to mention that cliffhanger at the end and the sequel that was never made.

I guess what me and other people would probably also like to know is what was that game that was supposed to use the rest of your maps, was it ever released ?

PS: In my description I did mention this only contains three of the planned twelve levels.

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Kiltron
Kiltron - - 5 comments

I wouldn't know any thing about the original game regarding any decisions they made about it. I started working there after FAKK 2 was released. The add-on I was doing was going to be a continuation of the original game that started exactly where the game ended. The unfinished levels I was working on for the add-on that you're talking about weren't really anything complete. Just basic geometry layouts and gameplay ideas. Kinda just enough about how you start and plan a level layout. No art or anything at all. They went to a mod team that was going to be doing a similar game like FAKK 2. I believe a few of the team members ended up getting a job in the industry and they never finished the game. They never mentioned it publicly so I don't really know anything other than their idea was just similar to FAKK 2, or really more like Tomb Raider. That seems to happen to a lot of mod teams though. They start a project and for various reasons they aren't able to complete it.

One of the unreleased FAKK 2 add-on levels that I had completed the most of was the bloody sewers level I mentioned previously. It was a continuation of maf208 when you jump down the hole at the end. This was maf209 which starts you right at the bottom of that hole. The others were nowhere near finished. If I were to release anything in the distant future, it would be maf209 since it is the one that would require the least amount of work to complete but don't hold me to it. You could say if I found the time to complete maf209, I may as well clean up maf207, maf208, complete things that weren't completely finished, fix some bugs, give them a final lighting pass etc.

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AntonioR Author
AntonioR - - 86 comments

Thanks for finally clearing the mystery of those other levels.

As much as it would be nice to have that new maf209 level, and these three fully finished, I don't know if it is worth the trouble now. The game isn't even being sold anymore, not many people even know about it. If it one day gets released on GOG or Steam, only then it might be worth to consider it. Of course, a hobby is a hobby, and you do it for yourself and not because of others ;)

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ZachFett
ZachFett - - 161 comments

Do you think you could release the unfinished assets you had worked on, so that the modding community can perhaps do something with them? Not even asking for you to complete any of it beforehand! I'd hate for all of that work to be lost forever...

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kutuz
kutuz - - 2 comments

hello, Thearrel!

Thanks for these wonderful maps! I made maps in the Radiant editor, i know how difficult it is to make a good map. I'm a russian fan of this game (sorry for my bad english language).

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arthurdecastro
arthurdecastro - - 10 comments

Is there any info about the other game the developer was going to work on? He said on the forums "After my separation with Ritual, I was approached by a developer who was interested in the work I was doing, so the remaining 9 level designs were contracted out to this undisclosed developer who are currently working on a next gen 3rd person action/adventure game.".

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AntonioR Author
AntonioR - - 86 comments

I can't find any info about it. It could have been cancelled, or the project eventually became Dark Salvation which was released in 2009, runs on Quake 3 engine and Thearrel McKinney is the founder of the company and lead designer. The game's art direction looks identical to this mod.

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arthurdecastro
arthurdecastro - - 10 comments

Yeah, I found this Dark Salvation on Itch.io, but this game was already being developed before I guess (as a mod for Quake 3 if I remember). But since there isn't any info about another "third person" on Thearrel McKinney on MobyGames, maybe the project never came to light =/ (or just Dark Salvation have a little time where they planned transform the game into a TPS and change back).

This third level, did you know how the one, that you said posted a download link, get this map?

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AntonioR Author
AntonioR - - 86 comments

Yesterday, I went to the Dark Salvation page here on moddb and asked if the project has any connections with this mod. I will probably get no answer, but you might also try. Maybe send a message directly to the developer.

As for the third level, if you watch the Youtube video I posted in the description, she mentions she downloaded the third level years ago when it was available. I think she didn't specify exactly where from, I didn't watch the whole video.

Also, if you watch the trailer for Dark Salvation that is posted on the itch.io page, at 1:17 you can see this third map. The statues are different and the map is more detailed, but it's the same map:
I.imgur.com

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kutuz
kutuz - - 2 comments

The map maf211 "Temple Ruins" has not been published anywhere before, it's interesting where and when it first appeared?

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brazzjazz
brazzjazz - - 56 comments

Wow! Thanks for posting this! I just read about this a moment ago, although I have known the game since its release!

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Muleke_Trairao
Muleke_Trairao - - 248 comments

About your note regarding the second level: In the YouTube walkthrough provided, there is a comment from one of the devs that says: "No cheats necessary. Detonator Bombs destroy boulders."
I could blow up the first boulder using two Detonator Bombs. :) It works.

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