Posts by Castle

I keep doing the same thing haha!!!

some progress, static meshes will be soon. Deciding if i want to make my own or use what they have.

You can get more details on the UT4 WIP thread I have regarding feedback for game play.

https://forums.unrealtournament.com/showthread.php…alist-%28WIP%29

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/yqfl628.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/VuZowPN.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/c5NRfmx.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/ggErUEj.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/NNEnaFr.jpg]

I haven't had any crashes yet. But I did accidentally turn my entire level into cubes. yeah...

I haven't even began adding static meshes to mine yet. I have a basic style in mind for my new map though. A very tech based look with smooth and rounded details.

This is looking pretty good. I wonder how stressful it will be to get up to the RL during an intense match.

Download: DM-TheBalist_a4 (Latest)

Download: DM-TheBalist_a3 (Old)

Download: DM-TheBalist_a2 (Old)

Download: DM-TheBalist_a1 (Old)

This is a level layout designed for 1 vs 1 arena combat. The latest version has been a complete rework of every area with a stronger focus on level geometry and game play. Static meshes have been taken out and lighting has been greatly evened out.

All feedback is welcome! Especially videos of game play!

Full Video Playlist, you can watch this levels creation from the first brush to where it is today complete with full commentary and the occasional rant.
See the full Playlist here.

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/Gl4ADtG.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/oPjpDvw.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/4UXkvP4.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/Nu8IoqZ.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/CykMhLj.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/R4QqQJj.jpg]

Ok so far I have the first pass on the layout. Spawns, pickups, lighting in place and ready for play testing. I also have two new episodes of my YouTube channel to show me creating it all.

Next will be static meshes and further tweaking based on feedback. I'll have a way to download the map tomorrow.

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/ORSR0sP.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/Wr49OS3.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/TnAve3t.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/9afkMGm.jpg]

I sat down for a bit to begin a block out for a map layout I would really like to see in UT4. Not sure if this will be my white box challenge map yet.

Also, the triplanar material does not match with the power of 10 grid making it really hard for me to not lose my mind half the time I worked on this..

Some general thoughts on UT4 as well as future plans including the white box challenge.

Quote from SpronyvanJohnson

Ah, I missed this man. I've been emailing back and forth with Jim. Great that they did that. Hopefully it draws in new blood.

Ohhh if you go in a bit longer he mentions some kind of triplanar dev material. WHERE MUST HAVE!!!

So I got setup to run the game last night. Now I cant seem to get the tools running with the latest build of the UT4 pre alpha because the scripts need to be recompiled. Problem is, for the life of me I cant remember how to compile the scripts..

edit: Got it all up and running now. Will begin building something soon.

My first level was created in the power of 2 rather than 10 but I plan for my next level to work with metrics for no other reason than to follow the standards they are putting forth. Just another weird thing in the pile of weird things in the life of a level designer I suppose.

Quote from Marcem

Unreal Tournament isn't on CryEngine, though.

Well, UT4 is also a new age game that is built around a mapping community. I am not even sure CryEngine has such a game. Does it?

I plan to start a new map for this contest while continuing further work on my previous map. Really looking forward to this.

As far as brush use vs model use my two cents on this are that limiting to one or the other is not really in best interest of level design as an art. The reason I say this is that we should focus on solving problems and innovating above limitations. While a block mesh is something we commonly use to block out game play meshes are also a bread and butter tool for us to use as well.

Sorry for the double post but check this out.

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/xfvnzlD.png]

I played a little bit of ghosts today and I found it really hard to want to keep playing. This list is really insane though.

Quote from Pampers

Call of Duty: Advance Planets

11/10 - IGN

Less is more, is something I wish they will go for next.

Yeah, a more streamlined COD4.

Quote from SpronyvanJohnson

My dislike for COD aside, that 7 minute gameplay trailer did nothing for me. Was bored 2 minutes in and stopped it.

This is an interesting trend where this genre is seeing a drop off based on the idea that more more more wont be the winning formula forever. We literally need to give COD giant mech suits with jet packs and nukes to make it feel fresh. What next? Can you just become planets and crash into each other?

I know this episode has some footage from previous raw footage I have shown but this one really goes into a lot more detail about my Doom 2 maps design. I have so many videos that the stuff I am doing vs how much I can show is almost back logged by a month its kind of crazy XD...

http://youtu.be/dnlYxKY16mY

Quote from Sjonsson

Holy shit that's a sick story, never heard anyone else had that experience before. Why the heck would you lie about working on a video game?! Gotta work harder so I don't need to push dem' carts.

This a misnomer. I wasn't necessarily in that situation due to laziness. This was a hard lesson in what can happen if you are not very good at two very important things.

1. Selling yourself

2. Networking

I am in a situation where I spent ALL of my time working and zero of my time putting myself out there. I didn't go to the parties and meet people in my relevant industry. I didn't keep my portfolio out there and I didn't make sure to have a presence. I still suck at job interviews on top of that. So I mean, while the post I put up may incite pity to some extent, I look back on it as both a hard lesson and just how quickly you can fall out if all you spend your time on his honing your art. There is actually a time when going out to have a beer with industry people for a fun night is better than learning how to get better at what you do. I am paraphrasing but its actually true.

Quote from generalvivi

I remember the day I quite my job at the movie theater. The boss was like "get on the floor and scrub under the popcorn machine" and I had already clocked out and it was super late. He was being such a dick and used to bully everyone (still does to this day from what I've heard). I took my work shirt off and left. I had people running out the back door like "Jason come back!!!!!". (It was like a movie scene)

Next week I applied and got an internship at Gearbox Software. I remember coming back for my final paycheck and showing my portfolio to my coworkers. My old boss was working that day and said to me "You'll never amount to anything".

Now every time I see him at the theater, I can't stop this giant grin from spreading across my face.

Feels good.

I love making games for a living. It's just, the best

Display More

Haha!

Curiously, I wonder whats up with this "You will never amount to anything" stuff. Like is there some kind of glass ceiling I am not aware of? A lot of people get into this idea that if you are working minimum wage or in the service industry its indicative of your actual value in society. In reality, there are way too many factors to determine what someone is actually capable of.

Right now just about anyone can take up insane things like robotics and 3D printing for example and receive almost zero relevant help from school because the classes either suck or just dont exist yet and potentially become a made-up-number-air. Its the exact same thing I experienced a long time ago when getting into the game industry. I was actually told that I will grow out of wanting to play with computers. There were zero classes to teach game design in the college I was at. When asking about them starting classes for game design I was pretty much laughed at.

This was Rockland Community College in new york in the late 90s. Now that I am back in the same area it might be amusing to see how much things have changed on this front and if I can be lucky enough to find the same staff who I talked with back in the day. That would actually be insanely amusing to me now that I think about it. LOL