[Unreal Tournament] DM-North Tower [WIP]

Jax0 · July 1, 2017

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)

Edited July 8, 2017 by JackW

Jax0 · July 6, 2017

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.

2d-chris · July 6, 2017

Lookin' cool!

Sigma · July 7, 2017

23 hours ago, JackW said:

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.

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

Jax0 · July 8, 2017

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

Jax0 · July 9, 2017

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)

Buzzbrad · July 13, 2017

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.

Jax0 · July 15, 2017

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!

TheOnlyDoubleF · September 6, 2017

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!

Jax0 · October 30, 2017

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!!

Jax0 · November 6, 2017

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