ah, I'm dumb, I was misreading the layout (hey look at all those really obvious assets placed in the street. 
) I was for some reason picturing you spending more time on top and crossing over the street. Completely off base, then, don't mind me 
(but I think the angled road suggestion might still help things a bit 
)
I realize this may be a little late to suggest it, but why limit yourself to a grid of streets? Even just taking a chunk of the layout and pushing it over at a 1:2 slope might help give you some of the visual doglegging you need. I don't know how deep it is, but what if you had a ruined chunk of elevated walkway that required you to go into a building and down into the street section, which could be a dark, claustrophobic mess of wrecked cars and debris and give you much more controlled sight lines - consider also the read of seeing a landmark/eventual destination poking up in the opening above the street, between the walkways. And of course the entrance and exit to that lower level provides a pair of very natural streaming transitions
It's been a couple years since I've been in UE3, but if I'm remembering correctly the move was best handled by 1) copying the objects to the streaming level, 2) cut/paste the kismet to the streaming level (which will then find the same objects from the original level), and 3) delete the original objects.
I'd recommend somewhere in the realm of B and C, though; things can get complicated real fast if you try to hack it up later. Depending on what you're using and how, you might also be able to alleviate some annoyance by keeping some of your scripting/script-relevant objects in the persistent level or a dedicated scripting sublevel separate from the geometry. Your mileage may vary, but I do recommend trying to plan for it to whatever extent is possible as early as possible to avoid stress later.
I was planning on putting the thread up next week, but if you're done now I can get it posted.
Bump!
I think we had enough support in the voting thread to do both the door challenge and the 3x 512 texture challenge (or some variation of a texture-limited one), but I had another thought I wanted to toss into the ring for future consideration:
The Design Test Challenge:
You have two weeks to build a 5-10 minute single player level in a given theme that incorporates at least one agreed-upon element (one that I did a while back, for example, required some example of physics-based gameplay). Themes ideas would be collected in advance and then one would be drawn randomly on the day the challenge begins to ensure no head starts
It's a bit high pressure, but won't take much time off the calendar and might be excellent preparation for those among us who are considering applying for jobs and may be taking tests in the future.
Feel free to toss out any other ideas you might have; we can always look at them down the road
Yes, agreed (sorry for the slow response - It's MIIILESSSTOOOONNNE WEEEEK! 
). Test however you like, as often as you like, with anyone you'd like.
So I initially want to make an UDK scene but 3month weeks is too short for it. The tut about hldm on Ob works
From the perspective of the challenge, use any content you want as long as it is included in the download.
That said, I don't know what the Valve view would be on Ep2 content being distributed separately. You're probably fine, but use appropriate caution
Guys, I screwed up - I meant to make this a 4 week challenge, but only made it three weeks + extra weekend. The proper deadline is actually SUNDAY, MARCH 20
Sorry for the screw-up. 
I'll update the first post now.
Quote from marnamaiEDIT: I should read the rules completely next time, shame on me ...
It's all good. Everything you described is fine; just make sure some form of solid boundary exists at the border.
killertomato and SamCom: Looking good so far!
Welcome!
I gotta say, great work on Vorkuta in particular. I'm not all the way done with Black Ops yet (I'm getting my ass kicked in Kowloon, most recently), but I think that level and the first chunk of Baikonur are my favorites.
I wrote up some thoughts on the trailer: http://blog.button-masher.net/2011/02/1 ... -of-games/ {shameless blog promotion, eh? )
As great as the trailer is, I really don't get the sense the game's tone is going to match. Which, I mean, the game sounds good, but I think I'd rather play the type of game that could come from the trailer than the real thing.
Quote from mechtroidI suggest someone try their hand at making a portal map as their contribution. It'd be a fun and challenging entry, I was going to try it for the 20 brush challenge, but I ran out of time trying to juggle work and mapping.
Definitely! I think there's a lot of really cool possibilities for Portal in this one. I would have loved to see a 20-brush Portal entry, too; it's too bad you didn't have time to finish it!
I'll add that note.
Also! It's 12:00AM Friday. That means...
The challenge is live!
Please continue to use this thread for any further discussion or any wip shots if you choose to show anything early. You know, to intimidate the competition.
Quote from Senturawe should probably rename this to cube contest, because it's hardly 1024^3 anymore what with all the engines.
I can support this.
32 it is for unity, and 4 weeks it is for the challenge. Revised rules:
Build an entire level contained within a 1024x1024x1024 cube.
***This is based on approximately Source/id tech player scale (64-72 units) and will vary as follows for other engines/editors***
Quake */Doom 3: 1024x1024x1024
Half-Life/Source: 1024x1024x1024
Call of Duty: 1024x1024x1024
UT3/UDK: 1344x1344x1344
Gears of War: 2048x2048x2048
Unity: 32x32x32
The challenge will begin Friday, February 18th, and end Sunday, March 13th at 11:59PM US CENTRAL time (GMT -6)
A submission thread will be opened in the final week of the challenge. Post a download link to your level along with up to 3 screenshots of your work.
You will have roughly one week to review all entries before voting begins. A single vote will be held for the overall winner. Voters will be allowed to vote for their top 3 entries, and the level that receives the most votes will be declared our winner.
You may:
- Use any engine/editor/game/mod of your choosing. If it is not already listed above, you must verify the scale of your engine before the start of the challenge
- Create a single OR multi player level
- Use unlimited brushes, meshes, effects, etc.
- Include non-accessible background detail that extends beyond the playable space
You MAY NOT:
- Allow any living player to move beyond 1024 units in playable/accessible space on any axis. The 1024 bounds MUST be defined by walls, sky, collision, or a kill volume.
As with the previous challenge, there will be no prize other than the pride of knowing people thought you were awesome
One more important point: How long will this run?
I haven't heard any complaints for the 4-week timeframe I proposed, but are there any votes for 5 or 6 weeks? What seems fair to you guys? Is everyone ready to start this weekend?
I've been thinking about this a bunch more over the last day or so... It seems like even after talking about a single game restriction, there was still a lot of support for multiple games, or multiple valve games (which would still create some of the same fracturing we'd see otherwise). Sooooo... The 1024 challenge will remain open to any and all engines/tools of your choice. I think the negative of some people being unable to play all entries (and the difficulties in arranging said playing) are outweighed by the variety that we open ourselves to - I'd love to see what people can do in Call of Duty, UDK, Gears, or whatever else.
The engine/editor question is something that's going to haunt us every time we do one of these, but I'd like to default to keeping things open to any and all, and only restrict games when the challenge specifically dictates it (for example, if we were to specifically do a HL1 SP challenge).
I will ask, however, due to the scale variety, that you please clear your engine in advance so we can deal with a proper scale adjustment if necessary. Assume a 1024x1024x1024 limit by default. So far, we have:
Quake */Doom 3: 1024
Half-Life/Source: 1024
Call of Duty: 1024
UDK/UT3: 1344
Gears of War: 2048
Unity: ???
Quote from SereniusNot familiar enough with Source or HL2DM to participate. Have fun guys.
See, now I already feel bad
Normally I'd stand more firmly for the more open "any game" approach, but I think given the dimensions and the goal of having more playtime on these maps, there's a valid case and a convincing amount of support for a single game. I do feel bad about saying no to people who had their hearts set on other games/modes, but if there's not any "OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL" opposition to going exclusively HL2DM, I think that's the way to go.
Edit: I also already planned to have a longer delay between submissions and voting to give us more time to evaluate/play the entries. Should be fun
Quote from SereniusIn Gears of War the scale is 1 UU = 2", which is quite different from UT3/UDK. Player size is around 96x96x144. This is gonna be a small map.
Gears in particular would need a special scale rule (possibly 2048^3). It's a massive scale difference. I'm ok with matching those proportions; let's just get a tally of engines people want to use, the rough scale conversions, and see how everyone wants to handle it.
