[UDK] 1vs1 DM-Desert

[Deets]

Hi, I'm a new member on this site and rather new to level design.

This is my first map I made. It was an assignment for school, my end project for level design semester 1.

We had to make a 1vs1 multiplayer map and since it was our first map we were allowed to use standard UDK assets

I really enjoyed making this level, so I would love to get better at this.

So I'm open for feedback!

[KungFuSquirrel]

This is pretty solid first map material; the UDK content and lighting helps a lot (you should've seen what first maps looked like in my day when you had to build them going uphill in the snow both ways) but you've got some good layout elements going here. Good use of elevation, some interesting connectivity in the main arena, and a good sense of space.

For your next efforts, I'd start looking at ways to break up the boxiness of the layout and work on connectivity that isn't so reliant on jump pads. Jumps are great in a pinch, and have their place, but pads + teleporters and the like can also be kind of a crutch if you're not careful. There's nothing wrong with right angles or axial layouts, but you can get some really special layout flow by integrating angled or curved routes, especially in terrain where you have a lot of free-form control.

Visually you're off to a good start; try to work on adding some more weight to your structures (the roof of the building is way too thin, for example; in the first shot it looks like it's not even there). You should also keep practicing your lighting; the outside looks great because of the UDK lighting engine, but you might get stronger results by experimenting with a few different angles to highlight different parts of the level (an awful lot of the level is in shadow right now). The interior lighting is very flat (probably from having just a handful of large-radius lights); try playing around with some pockets of light and dark, or maybe even open some of it up to the sunlight. Use small radius but higher intensity lights around your light sources, and use dimmer large radius lights to fill the space. You could also get some nice mileage out of adding little accent lights to the shadowed parts of the exterior - the bridge in shots 5 and 6 immediately comes to mind.

[Deets]

This is pretty solid first map material; the UDK content and lighting helps a lot (you should've seen what first maps looked like in my day when you had to build them going uphill in the snow both ways) but you've got some good layout elements going here. Good use of elevation, some interesting connectivity in the main arena, and a good sense of space.

For your next efforts, I'd start looking at ways to break up the boxiness of the layout and work on connectivity that isn't so reliant on jump pads. Jumps are great in a pinch, and have their place, but pads + teleporters and the like can also be kind of a crutch if you're not careful. There's nothing wrong with right angles or axial layouts, but you can get some really special layout flow by integrating angled or curved routes, especially in terrain where you have a lot of free-form control.

Visually you're off to a good start; try to work on adding some more weight to your structures (the roof of the building is way too thin, for example; in the first shot it looks like it's not even there). You should also keep practicing your lighting; the outside looks great because of the UDK lighting engine, but you might get stronger results by experimenting with a few different angles to highlight different parts of the level (an awful lot of the level is in shadow right now). The interior lighting is very flat (probably from having just a handful of large-radius lights); try playing around with some pockets of light and dark, or maybe even open some of it up to the sunlight. Use small radius but higher intensity lights around your light sources, and use dimmer large radius lights to fill the space. You could also get some nice mileage out of adding little accent lights to the shadowed parts of the exterior - the bridge in shots 5 and 6 immediately comes to mind.

Thank you for your feedback for lighting I prolly was a little bit to closed minded. I just used UDK light engine for outside and inside I just placed a light on every place there actually is a light mesh.

If I have time I'll try to update my map, but the new school semester started and alot of new projects are flowing in. Also a new map with own created assests! (Yay )

But you gave me some really good points to think about and keep in mind when making new maps

[Deets]

Anyone else who can provide some more feedback?

[Deets]

Don't worry ChA1NsAw, I'm not a rager and understand you need to accept feedback to become better.

And you got some really good points, some of them I didn't even noticed untill you pointed them out.

A lot of them were not even mentioned by the teachers...

For now I won't change this map, cause I simple don't have time to do so. But I'll keep your tips in mind for my next map