Focused Location ⭐
Focused Location is the first map in the Focused Location series, the final series in the SpakeMiner universe. It serves as a sequel to both InfiniSalmon 3 and Voidborders, converging the InfiniSalmon and Map series into a single storyline.
In Focused Location, the player follows the instructions of a mysterious man on the telephone to go to an unspecified location, along the way travelling via a train, a ship, and an airplane. In each of these sequences the player is attacked by various henchmen, including train-robbing bandits, pirates (among them the “Silver Pirate”), and… uh, helicopter-piloting, plane-robbing bandits, I guess. Also you fight some sort of enemy manifestation of lightning bolts at the very end, for some reason.
Little fun sidenote: the Silver Pirate is a reference to the antagonists of PeaceLand, an unreleased parkour map that I made a year prior. In it, the Silver Pirates are a group of adventurers who became corrupted by the treasure of Atlantis, and who now kill anyone who comes into their cave in order to magnify their powers.
Interspersed throughout the map are short “dream” sequences that occur after each time a player sleeps in a bed. These depict events that have occurred in the past during both the InfiniSalmon and the Map series, like the parkour, boss, and ending of InfiniSalmon 3, the Redstone Hall in Map, and the Voidborders portal in Voidborders. The latter two gain more significance later in the series, with Voidborders becoming a character in Focused Location 2, and the Redstone Hall becoming integral to the ending of Focused Location 3. The final dream also contains a recreation of LOL! LIMEWIRE!, for some reason, that uses Datenegassie’s video player concept.
Story-wise, Focused Location is actually fairly self-contained; the only characters from past maps that reappear in it are the villains from the two series, Fog and Je22, who team up in an effort to defeat and capture the player. Of all the other characters, TheMint makes two minor appearances at the start, and SpakeMiner and Alfred are only mentioned by name. The real significance of this map lies in the ending, in which the player is captured by the two villains, setting up the sequel Focused Location 2.
This map, as well as its sequels Focused Location 2 and 3, form the Focused Location series, the final series in the SpakeMiner universe, which I generally put a lot more effort into than any of the previous maps. For this one I think it’s pretty evident just from the release date alone - every map up until now, at least since InfiniSalmon 2, was released within less than a month of development. Focused Location, on the other hand, took nearly 3 months to make. I remember even taking a day off from school to finish up the final bits, and contacting CDFDMAN on Skype to ask him to record a voiceline for the credits. I think I really wanted Focused Location to stand out in terms of quality, and while it’s not a marvellous map by any means, I think it does achieve the standing out part at least among the SpakeMiner maps, which is why I’m awarding it a star on the site.
By the way, Focused Location has four Easter eggs, all located around one spot - I wonder if you can find them? :)