Jax0

On 8/16/2018 at 1:25 PM, Interfearance said:

Tidy work! Drawing is in many ways better then starting blind unless you have an image of the entire map in your head.

Thank you! I always start with sketches, but I've been wanting to do proper digital diagrams for something for a while. It was very useful to discover new gameplay elements before even putting it together in the editor.

And here's a few updates!

Put in another 3 hours tonight and 95% finished the whole layout. Art pass next week!

Happy with the progress. It's intended to be a very short, high-action experience and I'm ok with the linear design for now. The next map will be more open-world.

Here's the update photo... (notice how my diagram influenced changes on the top half of the level)

Who knew, drawing out a level plan actually helps come up with better ideas, a more structured level, and overall more enjoyable gameplay. Tonight I made some additional changes based on the diagram. Also worked on perfecting the Big Boom at the end.

Quick scribble to help me figure out what the plan is, going forward 

Started Map #2 in the Far Cry 5 Arcade editor.

I'm enjoying the idea of creating multiple playable experiences as this character called 'Rogue', taking a lot of cues from the high-action gameplay style of the old James Bond games.

Rogue - Altitude (WIP Title) is a 'Bounty' type level set in the high alps, where you must infiltrate an oil pipeline checkpoint facility, take out the Rocket-Firing Evil Dude and then survive an explosive escape by aeroplane.

Here are the first WIP images for it.

I'm going to practice making some proper diagrams and such. I want this level's creation to also be a lesson in good documentation.

This week I released my first ever public map! (woo!) It's called "Rogue - Chaos Break" and was made in the editor for Far Cry 5 Arcade.

Here is a video of the gameplay: https://youtu.be/g2j6ieZsTbA

An editor like this makes it easy to start creating your level using terrain first and then using trial-and-error with the provided 3d meshes to get your layout working, but I wanted to push for a more traditional pipeline. 

I started with a greybox pass and then iterated on that, when the layout was good I began bringing in 3d Meshes. Because I can't create my own, there was definitely further iteration required to find meshes that fit but overall the layout didn't have to change that much, and I think for a first released map I've done ok!

In ~ 4 days it's had 1,000+ plays, 600+ reviews, 30+ people favourited it and is currently sitting at a 4.6 star rating. I'm very happy with the result. On to the next thing!
https://far-cry-arcade.ubi.com/en-au/pc/map/5b56e33ba7e1396c3c1f909f

Now, some images of development

A couple more photos of the 'vista', as I spent tonight working on the foreground and background. Yet to make it blend seamlessely but I'll get there~ 

(Also still figuring out the best settings for nice shadows on props! They're being so difficult)

Hey Mapcore!

This will be my first year attending GDC which is super cool, and I'm wondering if I might see anyone else there from these forums?

If you are going, what talks/ workshops etc are you looking forward to? How many parties will you attempt to attend in one night? etc.

Hope to catch you there ~

Thank you both! Yes, I'm yet to learn how to increase the brightness of the outdoor areas 'in shade' sections, seeing as I don't fully understand how the engine's global illumination is calculated. I'm thinking my plan of action might just be a few carefully placed standard lights to boost brightness without losing the distinction between sunlight and shadow.

And DRZ thank you, I'm now looking more critically at the brush work and the areas I would love to be lazy about and leave be, haha, but now planning ways I can break it up/ detail it/ shape it better into something more pleasing to the eye

Hi Everyone,

This is my first Hammer map*, also my first CSGO map aaaand therefore my first Source map in general, so I'm a little late to the party but heyyy it's nice to be here at last.

So far I've spent about 7 or 8 days on it over 4 weeks. Roughly ~ 80 - 100 hours I'd say? I spent a lot of time playing bomb defusal and learning all the mechanics before jumping in of course. And watching some online matches to see what hacks players can exploit in the engine, and trying to design with all that in mind. It's actually a lot fun!

*I've dabbled, but never made a full map

So, what is de_pointblank?

The story is a terrorist/rebel group are infiltrating a weapons development facility hidden in the mountains with the goal of destroying either the weapons cache (A) or the giant satellite dish (B)

It's called pointblank as I was aiming to frequently funnel players into fairly close crossfire scenarios in enclosed spaces.

There are three main paths. Either through the HQ, or the mid-lane via the waterway, or through the server room which links A and B on the upper level. 

Here's a general diagram and overview of the initial layout:

EDIT... I added a hallway between 'Turbine' and B
and Turbine is just a courtyard now, really

Amended layout in-editor, first greybox pass...

Some early wip shots...

 Bombsite B

Courtyard

HQ

Bombsite A

And so far this week I've been learning a *lot* about lighting and prop placements and the difference between static props and dynamic props, so on and so on. 
I'll finish by just attaching some of the latest images. 

Aiming to have the map done asap! Want it in my portfolio

PS: I think I'm not enjoying the fog. It's hard to get it right and might be better off totally without!

I'm open to feedback, C&C! I'm learning a *lot* as I go along, so forgive me of any rookie errors haha. (But also please point them out. I need to know how to improve!)

Hey, this whole thread is awesome from the environment art to the industry pipeline insights, thank you.

I was wondering if you might answer this too... how much time is allocated to the development of one level like this? How much time for your blockout, modular pass, environment pass, light baking etc?

This looks amazing! Very grey though, which is true to life - but hey maybe a splash of colour throughout could be an improvement on the original  

Thanks! I'm not too sure yet what to do about the large walls. I need to break them up somehow. 

Oh and I realised low grav / translocator totally breaks the map. WELP. More things to solve  

Hurrah! I was able to fix my problems with the help of the awesome people in the Unreal Discord! Turns out I just had to delete one pesky material from my map and it's been fine since then

Update! 
Layout:
- I'm mostly happy with the layout (besides some view distances I need to divide up, but will be an easy task) so I decided to spend today and yesterday testing some basic meshes and lighting to start building the style and feel of the map.

Lighting:

- I'm experimenting lighting the areas a little differently but all in a purple/blue/green palette. This is so players know immediately where they are on spawning but still the map has an overall consistent feel.

- Lighting is too dark! And the sun rays, though awesome in editor, are just annoying in game. So I'll be tweaking that too.

It's got it's hiccups and imperfections, but I'm just happy to be working on it again haha.

Anyway, here's some more progress shots

On 9/7/2017 at 1:04 AM, TheOnlyDoubleF said:

Oh I didn't see this! The shapes are pretty cool. But it's all grey! Are you planning to had colors through texture or lights to get identify the areas, make easier to see the players from the wall etc ?

Did you applied some modifications lately? Please, more shots of this! 

Thank you! Yes I had plans to work closely with an artist to detail the map with trims, handrails, gardens etc and have the colour green throughout as a motif for highlighting and helping to define spaces. 

However I met a dead end with a compiler error that I was sadly never able to sort out  So this week I'm completely deleting and re-installing the Editor, which means ~ 2-3 days worth of waiting for downloads to finish on Australian internet.

But the silver lining is... I haven't given up hope yet!!

Hello Everyone!

For the Unity developers here, have you ever wanted a scripts package that comes with a bunch of handy and quick to use tools to make your level design process easier?

I've been working away on an asset pack inspired by features from old Quake/Radiant level editors, and today it is available on the Asset Store!

Asset Store Link:Quick Scripts For Level Design
Quick Scripts Features Demo Reel

Includes the following: 
Quick Doors - Easy to set up doors, which can slide or pivot (with audio!)
Quick Trigger - A ready-made Trigger Box with drag and drop connections to everything in your scene, making it easy to set Trigger Enter, Stay and Exit functions without ever opening your code. Plus the ability to set input requirements such as key presses, mouse clicks, etc
Quick Mover - Moving platforms on quickly customisable node-based paths
Quick Spawner - Spawners to allow you to spawn waves of any game object(s)
Quick Teleport - Simple teleporters with the ability to add particle effects and sounds
Quick Light - Animated lights. Just choose a preset from a list and it will pulse, flicker, imitate fire, flash like lightning, or more, and with the ability to change color
Quick Hover, Rotate and Pendulum - Scripts to allow you to make your objects spin, hover, or swing back and forth
Plus... - Extensive documentation and video tutorials!

Thank you both for the tips. Knowing this, I'll have a further look into it and at least now I'm better informed on what sort of questions to ask if I need to go to the Unreal discord.

Will let you know how I go!



EDIT: The fix for me was to use the "In Use By Level" filter when searching for the materials that were showing up in the compile log as being requeued, and to remove all instances of them from the scene. I think I may have also deleted the materials, just to be sure.

No manner of installations, moving folders, renaming directories etc etc helped. It came down to finding and removing materials

Anyone?? I'm still encountering this problem

On 7/14/2017 at 1:33 AM, Buzzbrad said:

What is the ideal amount of players for the map? The map looks neat though, i'd love to test it when you get the packaging problem fixed. 

Thank you! Still no luck with the packaging issue

The map is a little quiet with 6 players. I think it would suit best 8 - 10. It has four closely interlinked areas so there's a bit of downtime between frays. 

There's also definitely some rookie errors in this map haha. I'm not used to the high intensity gameplay of UT so at times the gameplay can feel a little slow in this map. Something I'm looking into.

And yes, if I can sort out this bug issue and bring this map back to life it'd be great to get you to test it!

Here's those photos I promised...

DM-NorthTower after an initial texture and lighting pass. The shadows are doing something weird, not savvy enough with Unreal's setting yet to know how to fix it. Feedback pleeease

(All photos are in-editor. I'm struggling to package it atm. I put a help request in Students/Beginners and also over at Unreal's help forums. Hopefully figure out what's going on soon so I can show off the level's gameplay with a video)

Hello, I'm struggling with a packaging error and I'd *love* some help because surely I'm not the only person to encounter this.

I'm having a real issue with packaging my map from Unreal Tournament Editor. The issue only arose after I applied materials to the BSP geometry in the scene. I just loaded in materials that showed up when I searched for them, so I imagine it's borrowing from other Unreal Tournament maps. 

When I package, the output log gets hung up on this line:
LogPackageContent: Publishing: UE4Editor-Cmd: [2017.07.09-08.06.04:603][  0]LogCook:Display: Forcing save package ../../../UnrealTournament/Content/RestrictedAssets/Epic/Infiltrator/Env/Underground/Infrastructure/Material/CeilingMetal01.uasset because was already requeued once

And will not progress, even if left packaging for over two hours. Quitting the package process is the only option, and I tried to see if it somehow magically completed in the background but no, the map doesn't load in UT.

Again, this has only been happening since I started applying materials to the BSP geometry.

This issue was addressed here: https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/542285/forcing-save-package.html but the answer is very vague and only posed more problems to me when I tried to follow it (ie Unreal then needed me to add most of those folders back in, the ones which I was told to delete, before it would even open. And then other problems occurred, so I'd end up just Verifying the Editor, installing it again, and bam... back to the original issue)

I can see it's a problem to do with the materials. But I've no idea why it's struggling. Any advice would be amazing, thank you!

21 hours ago, Sigma said:

Looking good. Any particular art style you are after? I would be willing to team up if you like...

Hey, thanks! There's some new screenshots coming soon with a basic texture pass over all the brushwork that might inform the art direction somewhat.

But basically it's a big metal/concrete/sci-fi structure. Im thinking a palette of white/grey/black/green. (green being plants/ patches of grass/ electronic displays, etc)

Models would be needed for trim, doorways, railings, plants, basic furnishings (like seating benches, a public info screen) and pipes. Plus whatever else that comes to mind.

Their style would be very blocky/industrial like something out of the recent Doom or *sniff* Starwars 1313. Overall the map will have a brutalist theme, just more sci-fi

I have another artist who might be interested too, but yes would love to collaborate from here! If you're still keen shoot me a message.

I'll post some new screenshots soon

Update July 7, 2017

Greybox is pretty much done! I'm really happy with the layout of the map. It flows well and caters for a number of different play styles.

I guess the next step from here is working with an artist to dress up this giant sci-fi palace and then do some final lighting tweaks and spawn point/ pickup adjustments.

Hi, this looks great!

Just wondering how long did it take you to put this together? What was your workflow/pipeline like and what problems did you encounter (if any) ?

Hello Mapcore!

I'm pretty new to these forums and also I've finally gotten back into deathmatch mapping after a seven year hiatus (!!!)

I'm a beginner with the Unreal Engine but I have experience from GTK Radiant days <3

Anyway, thought I'd share the progress of a map I'm going to work on over the next two weeks called North Tower. I'd love any feedback and criticism you might have. Be harsh, tell me how I can improve!

Here's a couple of pictures of what I got done on the first day...

(PS: You can quickly see the diagram layout doesn't match the in-game shots. I thought it might be interesting to show what the original concept was and how it organically changed during the editing and iteration process)