- Original Plan Summary -
"A series of BSP (Binary Space Partitioning) levels created using Unreal Editor 3 to explore Z-axis gameplay in regard to level design, followed by a final polished artefact demonstrating my understanding of these concepts."
I created three map concepts based on z-axis gameplay.
The first was DM-Clocktower. As the title implies the map is set in and around a clocktower structure. The gears in the Clocktower serve as makeshift moving platforms, and the clockhands can be traversed to reach the all-powerful Redeemer weapon.
The second was DM-Arena? DM-Arena was the weakest of the three designs. The playable area was much too big, empty and ultimately dull. I scrapped this design quickly and moved onto design three.
The third was DM-Construct which was set around a construction site. The map features moving cranes, girders, ramps etc. I kept in mind the mistakes I made in DM-Arena and made Construct into a small focussed map. Carefully placed platforms allowed the player to navigate across the entire map without touching the ground.
I chose DM-Clocktower as my final map since it made the best use of height out of the three designs. The Clocktower structure was designed as a tube attached to strategically placed platforms to form the different floor sections of the structure.
- DM Clocktower Final Map -
When making DM-Clocktower I used a number of z-axis gameplay elements to improve the map. I have listed them below.
Z-axis Gameplay Elements
Lifts - The map features three different kinds of lift.
1. Main Lift. This lift is located in the centre of the map and can be used to quickly travel to any floor of the Clocktower structure.
2. Small Looping Lift. These lifts are scattered around the main clocktower structure. They quickly carry the player to higher ground.
3. Gear Lift. The two gear lifts move up and down based on a kismet timer. The player can use these to quickly ascend or descend floors of the Gear Room.
Jump Boot Routes - Jump Boots extend the players double jump height to 500 units for three jumps. I designed and placed the ledges/gears in the Gear room structure with the Jump Boots in mind so smart players can easily ascend or descend the room using them.
Teleporter - The single teleporter takes players from the 1st Floor of the Clocktower structure to the upper area of the Clockface room.
Jump Pads - In particular the Sci-fi Room Jump-Pad can carry the player from the bottom of the map to the Sci-fi Roof Area.
Pipes Leading to Water Pools - Players can jump down vertical pipes to land in small pools of water to quickly descend to the lower levels of the map.
Kismet Elements
I also created sections of the map with Kismet in mind. I have listed objects that use kismet below.Gears - Gears are scattered throughout the Clocktower structure, particularly in the Gear Room. Players can use the gears as makeshift platforms to traverse the map.
Clockhands - The big clockhand rotates around the Clockface once every 40? seconds. It stops once it points towards the platforms around the clocktower allowing players to jump up, run along the clockhand and claim the powerful Redeemer weapon.
Conveyor Belt - The conveyor belts moves players towards the Shield Belt power-up. It prevents the player going back the way they came, instead they must fall through the hole
Scope of the Project
The overall scope of the project was very ambitious. I planned to make a fully functioning Deathmatch level in Unreal Editor 3 while making all the 3d assets and textures myself.
On reflection the project goal was too amibitious given the skillset I have.
Four Things That Worked
1. Starting the Project Over the Summer Break - I started planning out initial ideas for a map based around gears and machinery shortly before last summer. (around May/June). Originally I was considering basing the map on a Machine City, from the book Mortal Engines. I realised that re-creating a map as big as a city was far beyond my capabiltiies so I took the idea of gears and machinery and carried it into a new theme, that of a Clocktower. I started working on the map layout in June 2012, and by the time Y3 started I had a good base to work from.
2. The Theme I Selected -The theme of a old forgotten Clocktower gave me plenty of possibilties for interesting gameplay. I think the clockhands in particular do a fantastic job of tying the theme of the map to the gameplay of the map. The player can literally walk along the clockhands to reach the Redeemer weapon.
3. Working consistently Every Week - This allowed me to constantly make progress with the project. Each week I would either improve the map or learn something new about Unreal Engine 3. It helped that I enjoyed working on the project.
4. Choice of Project - I made sure to choose something I would not lose interest in as the hours built up. As a result I was always motivated to continue working on the map until the deadline. I will in fact continue to improve the map over the summer months.
5. Improving Knowledge of Unreal Engine 3 - To make the map I needed to learn to use UE3. I'd used UDK in the past but UE3 is quite different. Many newer features in UDK are not present in UE3 and the user interface controls work very differently. Over the course of this project I have learnt to like the different control method and am now proficient at using it.
Four Things That Needed Improvement
1. Texture Creation or Lack Thereof -Originally I planned to make all the textures used in the map from scratch in Adobe Photoshop CS5. As I got further into the project I realised this wouldn't be feasible. Making all of the geometry, lighting, etc took longer than I expected so I chose to focuss on the design of the map rather than making all the art myself.
2. Finding More People to Playtest the Map - Playtesting a map made in UE3 is difficult since every person playing needs to own a copy of UT3. This problem was mostly remedied once the UCS tutors kindly bought me 6 copies of the game, for playtesting purposes. Unfortunately the server browser for UT3 seems very temperamental and only seemed to work some of the time. This made setting up a game with lots of players a pain.
3. Lack of Drawn Floorplans - At the beginning of the project I planned to draw a basic floorplan for the map. Later on I realised my development method of adding parts to the map, testing them and removing them if they didn't work, didn't gel with creating a consistent floorplan.
4. Lack of Static Meshes - Overall I believe the map could have been improved by adding additional static meshes for extra detail. As I said above the process of creating and iterating the BSP and lighting took longer than expected so I scrapped most the planned static meshes. In the final map the only static meshes are: gears, clockhands and the clockhand machine.
Comparison Screenshots from Start of Project Compared to End
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Clocktower Ground Floor June 2012  |
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| Clocktower Gear Room June 2012 |
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| Clocktower Gear Room May 2013 |
Random Statistics
Time Spent on Project - 300 Hours. (266 hours in UT3 + 30 hours over summer 2012).
BSP Objects - 1073
Programs Used - Unreal Editor 3, Unreal Tournament 3, Adobe CS5 Photoshop, Microsoft Word 2003, Windows Movie Maker.
Conclusion
Clocktower Gameplay Video Final
(Blogger has decided that my youtube account contains no videos.
Hence why the above video is in embedded differently. I will try to fix this later on).
Clocktower Flythrough Video Final
Overall I greatly enjoyed working on this project. Over the course of its development I learned how to use Unreal Engine 3, BSP modification, Kismet Animation, Kismet Camera Movement, Lighting and the general UE3 interface.
- Sam
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