TRON 2.0: User Error

I've been playing with modding tools ever since Wolfenstein 3-D came out. I've made maps for Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Unreal Tournament, and others. But my biggest accomplishment so far is the creation of the single player expansion for TRON 2.0: User Error. This is not to say that I did it all, but I can honestly say that I started it. Once it got going, though, I have to concede that the bulk of the work that went into the expansion was done by the wonderful LDSO clan.

Since I was eight years old when I saw the first TRON movie in the theaters, the concept of the computer world has always fascinated me. I fancied myself to be like Kevin Flynn: master of video games and designer of the most popular games in the arcades. So, a couple of decades later, when I saw TRON 2.0 sitting on a game store's shelf, I bought it, played it, loved it, and wanted more. But more was not to be had. So I found the TRON 2.0 mod community at (now gone) www.boxhat.com message boards. The people there helped me find the tools needed to mod the game. I made a couple of multiplayer maps and tested the boundaries of what forms of gameplay the Jupiter engine allowed.

Then I started asking if anyone was making an expansion for the story. Nobody was. The people there were doing good work, but it was all in the multiplayer realm. There were no projects looking to extend the story. So I wrote one. I looked for a team to help me build the levels, but everyone was busy with their own projects. So I started making it alone. I made five levels. Of course, the community was supportive and helpful when I had questions, but for the first five levels, it was all me. Unfortunately, life got VERY chaotic for me and, not knowing what was to come, I turned over ALL my materials to the community with a note pinned to the "basket" saying something along the lines of "I'd like to see it finished, but I can't do that right now. Please do what you can with it."

And by golly, the community ran with it! They first moved and rebranded themselves to www.LDSO.net. Then they finished User Error! Another 10 levels were added following the storyline I had laid out. Of course, I didn't notice this for a few years, but when I finally reconnected with the LDSO guys... I'll admit to being emotional about what they had done with my baby. I'm forever grateful. The awesome news, though, is that they aren't done with it yet! See, they only got up to a certain point in the storyline with the 15 levels. Even though I'm now not involved with the project anymore, the LDSO crew is going to finish the game with a final expansion. I might participate with some voice acting, reprising the parts I played in the first section, but I'm otherwise mostly hands-off. I'll take the original concept and partial writing credit, though.

So if you are interested in seeing my first public release of anything that I've ever done, please visit the www.LDSO.net site, get and install TRON 2.0 for PC, download and install the patches you can find at the aforementioned website, play it to completion, download and install the User Error expansions, and peruse my other User Error items that I have under this section. (I'll add some items over time.) It's where Meatsack really got his start. (I know, 3rd person... but it's for dramatic effect, ok?)

I invested so much time in the User Error project, I even wrote a fan-fic screenplay for it. You can download it from my Google Drive HERE if you are even remotely interested. It's in MSWord .doc format.

-7/25/13-