Guess what kiddies, sometime early next February i along with 4 others (the team) are making an actual game level using the Unreal Engine, specifically for Unreal Tournament 3…

i’ve never played Unreal tournament before, so guess what i bought?

It seems like a very standard fps, and im actually quite excited for it, as i really enjoy’d my little play through. If i’m allowed i’ll upload some screen shots of what we’re making sometime in 2010. I’ll even try and sneak out some sketches so you guys can give me a pre-development opinion.

On the subject of University work, im finally starting to understand C#, hallelujah. On another University related subject; due to some stupid recent purchases i have £35 left to last me until January 4th, hell yes.

Also i’ve planned a nice expensive secretive buy after Christmas. Some of you will be jealous. Turns out these days im more of a gamer, infact im enjoying playing through games now more than ever. Gameplay videos will be uploaded in there dozens over the festive period, why? purely because that bug has been up my arse for too long. Another little thing that is going to happen on this little blog will be a completion list, so you knwo what i’m playing, and all the games i’ve completed, its coming 2010.

Retrojc is a man thinking, Retrojc is going to a party.

P.s i know this blog doesn’t really have much reason to check back to, but to all the subscribers/continuous ‘check backers’ thank you, as it really makes me happy that this blogs is read by you, and makes it seem worth while. If you ever have a question or a suggestion of what you’d like to see, or how i could improve…just leave a comment i guarantee to reply.

Desde o dia 5 de novembro – ou seja, há apenas uma semana -, quando a Epic Games disponibilizou gratuitamente o seu kit de desenvolvimento “Unreal Engine 3” para PC, o site já atraiu cerca de 50 mil usuários, em 130 países. Programadores podem ter acesso às ferramentas de desenvolvimento de jogos em 3D, para uso não-comercial, no site oficial do Unreal Development Kit (UDK).

“Estamos muito animados em ver a aceitação de UDK  e o registro  de 50 mil usuários em apenas uma semana, como também ansiosos para ver os jogos incríveis e as aplicações que irão advir dele”, disse Mark Rein, vice-presidente da Epic Games, em seu site oficial.

Já os interessados em utilizar a engine para fins lucrativos, deverão seguir os termos de licenciamento disponíveis no site. Em breve, a 3D Buzz – empresa líder e especializada no treinamento do UDK – lançará uma série de tutoriais em vídeos sobre a engine, aumentando ainda mais a sua biblioteca multimídia que, atualmente, conta com cem vídeos.

O UDK são ferramentas de desenvolvimento criadas para o game Unreal Tournament. Todo o seu conjunto de tecnologias e possíveis integrações e aprimoramentos são aproveitados para a criação de novos games. Jogos como  Borderlands (Gearbox Software), Bioshock (2K) e Medal of Honor – Airborne (Eletronic Arts), entre muitos outros títulos, foram lançados com o kit Unreal.

Fonte: www.udk.com

From/De: Epic Games

Epic Games Announces Unreal Development Kit, Powered by Unreal Engine 3

Industry Leading 3D Game Engine Toolset Now Available for Free

CARY, N.C. (November 5, 2009) – Epic Games, Inc. announces the launch of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), a free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides community access to the award-winning toolset like never before. This software release is available to anyone interested in using 3D game engine technology, including game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations, and digital filmmakers. Anyone can start working with the industry-leading Unreal Engine 3 toolset by downloading UDK at www.udk.com, where detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms, support resources and more are also available.

An unprecedented milestone in game development, the release of UDK awards free access to the same world-class tools and technology used by many of the world’s best video game developers and publishers. Unreal Engine 3 is a constantly evolving game engine, and UDK contains all the most recently added features and technological enhancements, including many that have yet to be seen in an Unreal Engine game. Furthermore, Epic Games will release ongoing, upgraded builds of UDK for free.

There is no charge for noncommercial or educational use of UDK. Over 100 academic campuses currently use Unreal Technology as part of teaching game development-related courses, and colleges with plans to incorporate UDK into their curricula include the University of Pennsylvania, North Carolina State University, The Art Institute system of schools, Drexel University, Westwood College, DeVry University and Atlantic College, with many others to be announced.

Individuals and companies wishing to develop software for commercial purposes should refer to licensing terms at www.udk.com/licensing. Commercial terms have been structured to make it easy for independent developers, start-up firms and seasoned professionals to use UDK with minimal financial barrier from concept to deployment. UDK is currently for PC use only, although console support is under consideration. Developers approved to make games for Xbox 360® and PLAYSTATION®3 may inquire for more information by emailing udklicensing@epicgames.com.

Benefits of UDK include the following:

• Immediate access to Unreal Engine 3, the critically acclaimed 3D game engine technology for cross-platform game development.
• Easy content creation with the Unreal Editor, a fully integrated suite of top-tier development tools, which comes complete with:
o Unreal Content Browser, a revolutionary tool for browsing, searching and organizing game assets with collaborative metadata tagging system.
o UnrealScript object-oriented programming language and Unreal Kismet, a visual scripting system that enables rapid prototyping on the fly.
o Unreal Matinee, a powerful tool with movie director-class controls for building in-game cinematics and gorgeous cut scenes.
o Unreal Cascade, an advanced particle physics and environmental effects editor that aids the creation of fire, fog, explosions and other visuals.
o NVIDIA® PhysX®-powered physics system with Unreal PhAT visual modeling tool for creating character and object physics rigs.
o Unreal Lightmass, a global illumination system that dramatically lights and shadows with minimal effort required by artists and designers.
o AnimSet Viewer and AnimTree Editor, which give animators precise control over every muscle and bone movement.
• Time saved thanks to technology integrations with leading game development middleware tools including SpeedTree®, Bink Video®, and FaceFX®.
• Output of standalone applications: Games created with UDK run entirely on their own with no additional software required. This means anyone can make UDK content and distribute it for free.

“I’m excited about the possibilities the Unreal Development Kit opens to those who are looking to get into the game business but don’t otherwise have the means to acquire world-class technology and tools like ours,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. “UDK is Unreal Engine 3, which has been used to create games in a wide range of genres, as well as military simulations, 3D architectural walkthroughs, animated movies and more. Users are only limited by their imaginations. Go ahead make something Unreal!”

Psyonix Studios (www.psyonix.com), a game studio based in San Diego, Calif., created the first proof-of-concept game using UDK in less than two months using a two-man team of one artist and one programmer. “Whizzle” is a downloadable vertical scroller in which players swim through underwater levels as an adorable sea creature that collects items and frees allies from captivity. To read more about “Whizzle,” view the developer diary video, or download technical documentation, visit www.udk.com/showcase-whizzle.html.

Until now, noncommercial access to the Unreal Engine 3 toolset has been available only through the PC versions of games such as Epic’s “Unreal Tournament 3” and “Gears of War” games. Users made new game experiences, called modifications or “mods,” by changing existing game assets or creating original content through the Unreal Editor tools that ship with every game copy. Many of these mods have been showcased through the $1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest (www.makesomethingunreal.com), which awards over $1 million in cash and prizes to aspiring game developers. While mods require running the original game for interaction with user-created content, UDK provides a standalone experience every time, meaning a smaller digital footprint and no additional software requirements.

“The Ball,” an award-winning “Unreal Tournament 3” mod by Toltec Studios (www.toltecstudios.com), is available now as a free UDK-powered download at www.udk.com/showcase-the-ball.html. Anyone authoring mods for Epic’s PC games can port their original content over to UDK.

Support for UDK includes over 200 pages of newly unlocked documentation at the Unreal Developer Network (udn.epicgames.com), dedicated forums (www.udk.com/forums), as well as other resources available through the UDK web site, www.udk.com. 3D Buzz also hosts hundreds of free video tutorials for using Unreal Engine 3 technology at www.3dbuzz.com.

Furthermore, Sams Publishing and 3D Buzz recently published two definitive guides for learning the Unreal Engine toolset, “Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3” and “Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume II: Advanced Level Design Concepts with Unreal Engine 3.” Both books are bundled with a free, downloadable copy of “Unreal Tournament 3” for PC.

About Unreal Engine 3
The award-winning Unreal Engine is known for cutting-edge graphics and its best-of-breed toolset. Unreal Engine 3 maintains those features in addition to multi-core processor support, Xbox 360® and PLAYSTATION®3 optimizations, massive world support, and a highly mature tool pipeline. Unreal Engine 3’s consistently evolving toolset is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for PC and console games, visualization applications, training simulations, and linear animated content. Additional information on Unreal Engine can be obtained through the Unreal Technology Web site at www.unrealtechnology.com.

About Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., based in Cary, NC and established in 1991, develops cutting-edge games and cross-platform game engine technology. The company has created multiple million-selling, award-winning titles in its “Unreal” series, including “Unreal Tournament 3” for PC, PLAYSTATION®3 and Xbox 360®. Epic’s “Gears of War” won over 30 Game of the Year awards, and the sales of “Gears of War” and “Gears of War 2” have eclipsed 11 million units. Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 is the three-time consecutive winner of Game Developer magazine’s Best Engine Front Line Award and is this year’s Hall of Fame inductee. Unreal Engine 3 has also been recognized as the number one game engine by Develop magazine. Additional information about Epic can be obtained through the Epic Games Web site at www.epicgames.com.

© 2009, Epic Games, Inc. Epic, Epic Games, Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Unreal, AnimSet Viewer, AnimTree Editor, Unreal Cascade, Unreal Content Browser, Unreal Development Kit, Unreal Editor, Unreal Engine, Unreal Kismet, Unreal Lightmass, Unreal Matinee, Unreal PhAT, UnrealScript and Unreal Tournament are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

###

Download mirrors for the Unreal Development Kit include:
NVIDIA, FilePlanet, BeyondUnreal, FileFront, GamersHell, FileShack, AOL Big Download

For today’s post (or yesterday’s…) I thought I’d write a little about a mod I have recently encountered.

Angels Fall First – Planetstorm is a futuristic space\land battle multiplayer mod for Unreal Tournament III.  I haven’t had much chance to play it yet, just messing around offline with bots trying to learn the mechanics, so I don’t have much information on how it plays.  But I still think it’s worth a post simply for the ideas.  Several years ago, back when UT2004 was released I had an idea for a mod that was quite similar to this, so when I first read about it I was excited.

What’s so unique (at least in any meaningful way) about this mod is that you’re actually inside the variety of cruisers and battleships on offer, at the same time the ships are fighting a battle in space and the two conflicts are closely interwoven.  Each ship has various stations that can be interacted with to give you control of particular functions of the vessel you’re in.  When a match starts you select a ship and equipment load out you are then spawned in the ships crew quarters.  From there it’s up to you where you go, patrol the ship watching out for intruders, head for one of the stations to control the ship, launch a fighter craft.  The quality of the ships interiors were what struck me first, I was very impressed, they’re very detailed and everything gels together in a believable way.

There are three main types of station:

The main station is of course the bridge, in front of the access point is a very impressive viewscreen that gives a real-time video feed from a camera on the front of the ship.  This doesn’t have anything to do with gameplay, it’s just extra detail that makes this mod so impressive.  On activating the bridge station you are taken to an outside view of the ship, your controls now command the ship, you are in charge of the ships movement as well as the main cannon on the front.

The most prevalent station type is for operating the weaponry, from vulcan turrets to torpedo launchers.  This is exactly what you’d expect from a turret weapon and is a little boring being stuck with a fixed perspective, but it would probably be much more fun if you were coordinating a ship with your team mates, with someone at the helm keeping the enemy in range.

The third isn’t a station in the same way the others are.  The Hanger deck, only available on the biggest ships, allows you to take out one of three fighter craft.  This obviously makes you more vulnerable, since you are actually in the fighter rather than operating a station within a bigger vessel, but a massed attack can be very effective against the larger ships.  It also opens up another major part of space battles, more about that later.  On offer is choice between a small, heavy and missile fighter, with all the advantages and disadvantages you’d expect.

There is also a fourth station, this one doesn’t let you control anything like the others, the engineering section is where you need to go to repair the ships systems should they be taken out in battle.

Ship movement and manoeuvring is very slow and sluggish but the speed feels right, you are in command of a great hulking piece of metal and it acts as such. Fighters are much faster and more manoeuvrable.  Overall the direction control does feel a little off however, possibly something to do with the way the mouse works.  When it comes to firing your weapons, you can target various sub-systems such as propulsion, individual turrets, shields, etc. which impact the performance of the ships.

There is also another way of taking down a ship, if you fly a fighter close enough you will see an orange marker showing you a docking point.  It can be difficult reaching and connecting to these, and I’m not sure whether it’s a bug or whether I was doing something wrong, but sometimes there is an invisible barrier that stops you from getting close enough.  If you make it though, you’re back in first-person and must fight your way through the ship to reach the core.  It takes a lot of damage to destroy it, but serves the dual purpose of blowing up the ship and distracting the enemy players.

Visually this mod is very striking, with a heavy use of blur on the external sections giving it a distinctive art direction (something that isn’t easy with the UE3 engine), the sun has some great angles and the planet below is appropriately huge.  The ship designs are interesting with some great detail, and as I mentioned before the interiors are also very good.  Sometimes you play some great mods gameplay-wise but they don’t match up visually, this team have obviously put in a lot of work.

I’ve only had the chance to play the space section at the moment, so there could be another large aspect of the game I’m missing out on with the planet-based battles.  There are only four maps at the moment but that’s more than enough, and if the mod continues to do as well as it has been then there will be more on the way.  And it has been doing well, Angels Fall First – Planetstorm came 4th in Phase 2 of the Make Something Unreal Contest, and 3rd in Phase 3.

I’ve found it a little rough around the edges and difficult to get into but it has some amazing ideas.  It is after all still in development, with the latest version being RC5, and I have high hopes for it in the future.  I’m both looking forward to, and dreading giving the proper multiplayer a go.

Download the latest version from here.

Okay, so a combination of the bugginess of the Unreal Editor, my lack of commitment, and just laziness in general has forced my to put this level on hiatus.  Sorry.   I’ll probably get back to it eventually, but meanwhile I’m floating through some ideas for games and trying to see what sticks.

Sometimes you make decisions that in hindsight are really, really stupid. One such decisions and my procrastination over dealing with it is why this latest Progress Log is appearing, several months after the previous one. However before I detail that stupid decisions, I should first return and explain the motivations for the changes made to the initial revised floorplan.

Revised Floorplan.

Though improved over the original floorplan this revised version was still extremely linear in nature, although there were now multiple levels with routes between those levels movement throughout was still in based on straight lines. This type of design for a deathmatch map leads to a reliance on long range engagements with little room for tactical play, no blind corners, no potential ambush points. Such a design can be very successful, one of my deathmatch favourite maps of all time, Quake 3 Arena’s Q3DM17 “The Longest Yard” is a great example of such a map.

Q3DM17 "The Longest Yard"

With the exception of the floating platform for the Quad Damage there is literally nowhere to hide, play is fast and the Rail Gun is mater; I have spent far too much time on this map. However the aesthetic decisions I had made regarding the look and feel of DM-Aerie didn’t lend themsleves to such a design.

Therefore it was important that I redesign the floorplan to focus on medium and close range engagements, with room for tactical play. DM-Aerie needed to be about ambushes and quick escapes, with maybe the occasional risky run through the open. To that end I made the decision to reorientate the Control Room and Airstrip so they were at ninety degree angles to the main facility. I suspected this wouldn’t be enough to solve the problems with the floorplan but it was something I could test quickly and doing so would help indicate further changes that could be made. Though I draw up floorplans manually on graph paper first these are usually a poor representation of how the final level looks, the initial ideas I have are usually, to but it bluntly, terrible. It’s only after physically moving through the environment that I get a good sense of the space itself and how it should connect together, and how movement should flow through it.

Improved Floorplan.

Several iterations later I had reach a point that I was substantially more comfortable with, a set of stairs had been added to join the basement level to the main level, elevators had been added to join the basement to the Control Room and Conference Room. I’d made several experiments with the stairs in the main level and had settled on a layout I was comfortable with.

At the back of my mind while working on the floorplan and general layout was the thought of how I would handle the mountain ontop of which the entire facility was to be built. I knew I’d have to face that problem eventually so eventually decided that it would be best to simply face the difficult task. This led to me laying out a terrain mesh and shaping it into a mountain around the existing floorplan. The flaw in this approach might be obvious.

Improved Floorplan with Mountain.

I let my artistic sensibilities overide the nagging sensation that the floorplan simply wasn’t working and started chipping away at the terrain mesh using the visibility tool to remove any areas where the mesh passed through the exterior walls into any of the rooms of the facility. This was a time consuming and frequently frustrating task and my focus on doing it was distracting me from the simply fact that the floorplan still wasn’t right. I spent too mhc time ensuring that the terrain mesh didn’t intersect with the BSP and it was only when I finally stopped that I realised I would really need to change the floorplan again and doing so would require a future modification of the terrain mesh.

I’d just wasted several weeks. At this point I should note I was not spending as much time on the level as I should have due to various reasons. I have a full time job, though really that’s just an excuse, I was putting it off as I knew I’d been focusing on the wrong thing but didn’t want to admit it.

Finally I accepted that I really would need to change the floorplan, and so I deleted the terrain mesh and set about pulling the level apart and rebuilding it.

In the next progress log, which I promise will be within the next week or so, I’ll focus on specific areas of the level and detail the changes that took place and the reasons for each. Though at this point I suspect I’m only writing these for me, but that’s ok.

It’s been awhile since we did a TGIF and there are two delicious morels of PC gaming ready for your enjoyment on a lazy weekend afternoon.  First game is one that seems to go free for a weekend on Steam every couple of months.  Unreal Tournament 3 is free to play all weekend and also deeply discounted from $19.99 to $8.

Also, in celebration of Talk Like a Pirate Day (9/19/09), Telltale Games and LucasArts are offering codes to unlock the demo of the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island.  They are also offering the full season of adventures for $5 off.  Check out this post at Joystiq for details.

Enjoy your weekend PNGers!

Fivemile Lookout

Just an update of what I’m working on.  I’ve been creating a level for Unreal Tournament 3 (which is UNREAL, in case the title didn’t tip you off).  Ironically enough, it’s based on a real place – Fivemile Fire Lookout Tower, in central Oregon.  I’ve stayed there overnight (you can too, if you know someone or stay on the waiting list a long time).

Anyways, this is mainly expanding my Unreal Editor knowledge, as well as an easy way to get used to 3D modelling .  More info and in-development screens to follow.

Wondering when is Fable 2 released for PC? Then the answer is: don’t wait for your Monday. Forget Fable for a while, I found an interesting mod for Unreal Tournament 3 by Airborn at Moddb and the Mod itself titled as Airborn.

Airborn is a single player Action-Adventure game mod with fantasy themed story. Airborn is not Unreal Tournament, it won’t behave the same. They’ve written a whole new camera system, the movement is also not just UT3. The style of drawing is unique, and UT3 Engine made the game graphic looks really soft.

Oh yes, the first release will be on next Monday (September 7, 2009). Please check their site Airborn Game.

Another awesome mod I found it really interesting is Archasis II a RPG-FPS for UT3.

Yes, this is a mod. Amazing, eh?

A trailer for Airborn, an Unreal Tournament 3 mod, has just been released. It’s going to be a total conversion mod, and it will be of the action-adventure genre. By the looks of it, this mod will be top-notch quality, and it definitely has some of that special “Zelda” charm to it. Take a look for yourself:

I’ve held off from buying UT3, but if this mod turns out to be good, I will definitely have to buy.

Thanks to Krynn72 for finding this one. Official information can be found here.

     This game has me a bit surprised at how unreal it score is. I thought it would score a bit better, but I realized this games core feature is the multiplayer. Although it has a fine multiplayer, I feel a lot more could have been done to make this game a better overall game. So here we have the review of Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360.

     Gameplay – This game relies way too much on its multiplayer to give out a gameplay value. It has about a 3 hours of fun then I put it down. I enjoyed the singleplayer, but it gave me too much of what the multiplayer gave me. If you are looking for a very challenging game then you probably should head out and rent it, but even if you enjoy challenges it should get fairly boring in about 2 days of play. The gameplay rating I give it is 2/5.

     Graphics – The graphics are quite decent for a game that relies on multiplayer for gameplay. I know the Xbox 360 supports much more powerful graphics. I suspect they couldn’t up the graphics too much due to the fast-paced multiplayer action in this game. I can feel some sympathy for them, but they could have taken steps to upgrade the graphics. Unreal tournament 3 gets 3 character models out of 5. 3/5.

     Soundtrack – This has a soundtrack, but the intense action doesn’t really allow you to give a listen to it. I barley noticed it behind the blasting of guns. A better, louder, more dramatic soundtrack would solve this problem. It has intense action with no intense music which is a necessity to make the players more clinging onto the action. I strongly feel the soundtrack could have been better improved. I give this game only 1 out of 5 songs for the soundtrack. 1/5.

     Overall score for Unreal Tournament 3 - 2/5.

     Cash value for Unreal Tournament 3 for Xbox 360 – 20$ or less 

                                                                                                                                         Thanks for reading,

                                                                                                                                                                  Junkie Gamer

Yesterday whilst browsing the mod list at www.moddb.com, I came across this single player mod for Unreal Tournament 3, Prometheus. This mod won 1st place at phase 2 of the ‘Make Something Unreal’ competition, in the ‘Best Game Mod’ category, so that’s a clue as to the mods quality.

In the mod you play as a test subject for the Prometheus device, a machine that allows you to rewind time and play along side your previous movements. This is a mechanic that allows you to access switches in correct orders and other tasks with past versions of yourself in order to allow the current version of you to progress through the mods two main levels (there is also a quick tutorial to teach you the basics).

This mod is very interesting and definitely worth checking out, especially if you have a copy of UT3 on your hard-drive just sat there doing nothing. Just like I did after the recent Steam sale. Speaking of which, there is another free UT3 weekend this coming weekend, so you have no excuse not to check out this mod at the same time!

After overcoming some issues with UnrealED (Which is fortunately a less frequent occurrence than in previous versions) I’ve been able to spend a few further hours working on DM-Aerie.

As described in my previous log entry I had an overarching theme and had developed a number of individuals locations that would fit with that theme. With these in mind I began sketching out initial floorplans on graph paper. Not to scale, and covered with notations, I used these draft floorplans more as a way to solidify my ideas than as any direct guide for how the level would be constructed. The notations often took the form of questions and it’s only in further iterations that I was able to provide answers.

After filling up two sheets of graph paper with concepts and general layouts I moved onto physically laying out brushes in UnrealED. This allowed me actively move through the space giving me a better sense of scale and the manner in which locations would connect to each other.

(Click Images for larger versions)

Initial Floorplan.

The very first floorplan was extremely basic and didn’t last long, however being able to load the level and move around it in three dimensions really helped to answer some of the questions I had, specifically issues related to the overall size of the level and the type of secondary locations I would need to connect the core locations together.

The floorplan went through a number of revisions over the next hour or so until I had a version that gave a much better idea of the type of layout I was looking for.

Revised Floorplan.

The most obvious differences between this revised floorplan and the original was the inclusion of interior walls to give an idea of how rooms would be separated and the addition of an extra floor in the main building, putting the Control Room and Conference Room on different levels.

The reasoning for this was to add more space both horizontally and vertically. This was also the reason that I added a basement level running underneath the main structure and linking it to the hanger level, thus providing a second route to the hanger and airstrip.

Because the layout is still fairly linear it’s important to try to provide players with different paths between key locations. Though it can be difficult to see from the screenshots, most rooms have at least three separate entry points to ensure there is always an alternative entry or exit available.

Between the main facility and the airstrip there are two routes that can be taken: through the main facility and out the front doors onto the airstrip itself; or through the basement, into the hanger and up onto the airstrip. I’ve made sure that at various point along these two routes it’s possible to change from one route to the other. If players enter combat in either the lower or upper route they are not limited to having to eithe rcontinuing forward or retreat. Depending on where they are they should never be too far away from a point at which they can change to the alternate route.

In addition to allowing players to disengage from combat when needed this type of layout also provides players who know the level the ability to plan ambushes and get the drop on their opponents.

Current Version.

I’ll end with a image showing the current layout of DM-Aerie, and leave discussion of how it reached that stage, and the reasoning behind the changes, for the next Progress Log.

Today I started work on a new deathmath level for Unreal Tournament 3, for a number of reasons I’ve decided to maintain a log of it’s development, focusing on creative influences and initial design through the actual process of creation and testing.

Initial Design:

I spend a lot of time looking through digital art magazines and similar publications to try and find images to inspire me, it was while paging through the December 2007 issue of ImagineFX that I came across this image by American artist Amir Salehi.

The moment I saw this image I was able to visualise a level concept in my mind, I don’t expect the final DM-Aerie to relate much to this image very closely beyond being a mountain top facility however it was enough to spark an idea. I’ve spent a lot of time using UnrealED so I have a good understanding of the range of materials and static meshes available (My current skillset doesn’t extend to creating my own art assets) and so I knew there were a number of assets available to create a snow covered mountain facility.

Developing the idea I started to visualise a number of mental images of the type of locations such a facility might contain. Conceptually I was envisioning a much smaller facility than the original image depics, in my mind I saw a futuristic take on the Kehlsteinhaus or Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s mountaintop retreat. I imagined the main facilities built inside the peak of the mountain with a hanger and repair facilities for a private jet of some sort, and a landing strip extending outwards over the edge of the mountain.

Once I’d got a more solid mental image of this initial concept I started to think more specifically about the individual rooms and their layout. At this point I find it useful to look to similar locations in other games, or films, I do this not in an attempt to copy those locations directly instead I use them as a mental temp track to help me better visualise the style of location I’m aiming for.

Locations:

The core locations I came up with and the visual references for them are:

Control Room: A roughly circular room located at the front of the structure, similar in layout  the control room seen in the Peragus II  section of Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic II- The Sith Lords. A split level structure with a number of control banks facing a large window looking out across the mountains. Outside a metal walkway runs underneath the window allowing access to aerials and other sensor equipment built into the mountain itself. A second influence for the visual look of this location was the bridge of the USG Ishimura in Dead Space.

Conference Room: A similar size and shape to the control room but on the opposite side of the facility, above the airstrip. Designed much like any corporate conference room, build around a central table facing a second sweeping window looking out over the mountains and the airstrip. This would be linked to a number of suites making up the living areas of the facility.

Airstrip: An external airstrip carved out of the mountainside and ending in a sheer drop of several hundred feet. Reminiscent of the similar airstrips seen at the start of GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies. The entire exterior of the Aerie would including falling snow and heavy use of volumetric fog. The original idea included an aircraft parked on the airstrip, the engines running, two piercing yellow\orange beacons in the fog. However that was later changed to make way for…

Underground Hanger: An underground hanger and repair facility for the aircraft, built underneath the airstrip itself and featuring a large cargo elevator that when operated would lift the aircraft up onto the airstrip itself. The concept for this location was heavily influenced by the hangers facilities on aircraft carriers, this ship like design would extend to other interior locations, the conceit being that such a construction would be the best way providing protection from the elements.

With an overarching concept and these four core locations in mind I had a good idea of the overall structure of the level, enough to start working on a floorplan. I’ll present this initial floorplan, as well as discuss some of the specific level design decisions made during its creation in my next Progress Log.

I feel I am somewhat late to the Unreal Tournament 3 party seeing as it was released in July 2008 and I only bought it yesterday. I have always enjoyed playing UT but I felt a little bit at ends with it after the need for an amazing specced machine in order to play it. I used to have a copy of UT (the original) and played it online with my friends but there were always issues with lag and this could have been down to system requirements. We also only had one disc and managed to pass it round where I live and be able to play without the need of it. So, when I found myself playing UT3 on the PS3 in PC World, I sank back into nostalgia and really enjoyed it. There’s something incredibly nostalgic about the series which draws me to it. I have to say though, the graphics are amazing but the ‘campaign’ is less a campaign as it is just a series of games clumped together with a plot looser than the elastic on a whore’s skirt. I don’t mind playing one game after another, after another, and so on and so forth, but when you get the Warfare mode three games in a row, it gets very tiresome. Also, in co-op, the lack of a mini-map makes it very difficult to tell what the fuck is going on.

Ah yes, World of Warcraft Path 3.1 came out this week and this is partly why you haven’t seen a post from me. The new patch has managed to get me back into the game after losing faith in it. Going on the occasional raid has also made me want to play some more. I got some awesome shoulders from Obsidian Sanctum 25-man which has also made me want to play. I haven’t ventured into Ulduar yet (for I have not even been in Naxx, I’m such a noob) but I hear that the difficulty curve is something that has been needed for a while in Wrath of the Lich King. Whilst Naxx is a bit of a cakewalk, Ulduar is to WoTLK as Naxx was to Vanilla WoW. My brother has also gotten a lot of traffic from writing about the tactics for killing the Molten Colossus trash in Ulduar. Now, I am a man of honour so I won’t be using that to get any more page views, but…

MOLTEN COLOSSUS TACTICS

MOLTEN COLOSSUS TACTICS

MOLTEN COLOSSUS TACTICS

See, was that inconspicuous? If you have actually stumbled across this blog to find these tactics then I shall give a link to where they are. Not out of kindness mind, but because Loz said he’d be very disappointed in me if I used him as a means to get more page views. Click here to get to Loz’s blog where he writes about WoW and his silly little life. I love you really Loz

From/De: Midway Press

Unreal Tournament 3 Titan Pack Now Available for Sony PLAYSTATION 3 Computer Entertainment System

New Maps, Units, Gameplay Modes and More, All for Free Available for Download via PlayStation Network March 19, 2009 – Midway and Epic Games Today announced that the PLAYSTATION 3 version of the Titan Pack for Unreal Tournament 3 is now available for download free through the PlayStation Network.

This massive download includes:

New Maps – 11 new multiplayer maps for Deathmatch, Capture the Flag (CTF), Vehicle CTF and Warfare modes, plus eight maps from the first UT3 bonus pack and Xbox 360 version of the game.

New Gameplay – Two new gameplay modes make their debut in the Titan Pack: Greed, a “tug of war” styled kill points fight, and Betrayal, a cutthroat style of combat where alliances can turn on a dime.

New Units – The X-Ray Field deployable can be used to waste enemies, while the Link Station can be deployed to keep your vehicles in fighting shape. The new Stealthbender vehicle renders itself invisible for surprise attacks, and comes with a Link Station, X-Ray Field, Spidermine traps and a powerful EMP mine. The Eradicator Cannon and Stinger are deployable turret units allowing players to rain death on their enemies and protect their bases during combat.

Titan Mutator – This mutator turns you into the dreaded Titan, a 15-foot tall destructive juggernaut possessing all effects from game power-ups at once. Morph into the thundering Behemoth, a 10-meter tall demon of devastation, to deal a temporary yet deadly blow to enemies.

New Characters – Nova and Kana are two new merchants of death joining the multiplayer mayhem.

PS3 Trophy Support

Integrated Mod Browser

I know that was a big title but we just had a lot of content just released! Well 2 out of the 3 were released just today! We have Lara’s Shadow which is after Beneath the Ashes and for the 360 only. Then there is the Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 with 4 new maps for all consoles. Lastly, Unreal Tournament 3’s new patch and Titan Pack for the PS3 and PC only. Lets get started…

Tomb Raider Underworld: Lara’s Shadow (800 MSP)

For 800 Microsoft Points you can continue the adventures of Lara’s doppelganger with unique deadly shadow powers. With the use of Shadow Power, you can slow time and massively increase the speed and force of Lara’s devastating melee attacks. Shadow Power also lets you grab and move along surfaces that would be too dangerous and tough for Lara to ever climb. Gunplay gets more serious with Shadow Fire, as your weapon’s speed, accuracy, and impact shatters impossibly dangerous enemies into pieces. If you want to know what happens after Beneath the Ashes, I would pick this up.

Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 (800 MSP / 10 Dollars)

The Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 expands the addictive COD multiplayer experience with four new maps. Players fight through the burning streets of Berlin in “Nightfire” and take up battle positions in fortified Japanese bunkers in “Knee Deep.” “Station” offers a bombed out underground train station, and the Nazi Zombies return in “Verrückt” (Zombie Asylum) featuring more weapons, new Perks-a-Cola machines and electroshock defenses.

Unreal Tournament 3’s Patch and Titan Pack (Free)

The Titan Pack’s downloadable content includes the gametypes Greed and Betrayal, the namesake Titan mutator, 19 maps, the Link Station and X-Ray Field deployables, the Stinger Turret and Eradicator Cannon weapons, the Stealthbender vehicle, the Slow Field power-up, and characters Kana and Nova.

Speaking of Greed, our guys are having a blast with this addictive new gametype. Greed is a fast-paced, “tug of war” style mode in which you swipe the skulls of fallen players and unload them at the enemy base to score points. Silver skulls are worth a point, gold skulls represent five points, and red skulls are 20 points.

It’s common to see players fighting over huge hoards of skulls as the clock winds down. Each team always tries desperately to stop the other from scoring while, at the same time, fighting to survive en route to the enemy base with their own stockpile. It’s a complete frenzy, but no lead is insurmountable, and there is always hope for a comeback at the last second.

For an interesting twist, you can play Greed with the Titan mutator activated. In this scenario, the goals are the same except you can transform into a 15-foot Titan, which is handy for sowing mass destruction on opponents while protecting skull-toting teammates. To trigger the metamorphosis, simply fill your meter by killing enemies, capturing flags or nodes, and completing other game objectives.

UT3 players can already enjoy the title update portion of the Titan Pack for PS3, which incorporates a long list of enhancements, including split-screen support, an integrated mod browser, 57 Trophies, major visual and menu flow upgrades, significant A.I. improvements, overhauled networking performance, and better mod support.

Happy hunting!

Steve Polge, Lead Designer, Unreal Tournament 3, has posted on the PS Blog that tomorrow some Unreal Tournament 3 downloadable content will be coming….for free! The “Titan Pack” will feature a ton of new content to get your hands on. I’ll just let Steve explain it for you:

The Titan Pack’s downloadable content includes the gametypes Greed and Betrayal, the namesake Titan mutator, 19 maps, the Link Station and X-Ray Field deployables, the Stinger Turret and Eradicator Cannon weapons, the Stealthbender vehicle, the Slow Field power-up, and characters Kana and Nova.

Speaking of Greed, our guys are having a blast with this addictive new gametype. Greed is a fast-paced, “tug of war” style mode in which you swipe the skulls of fallen players and unload them at the enemy base to score points.

For an interesting twist, you can play Greed with the Titan mutator activated. In this scenario, the goals are the same except you can transform into a 15-foot Titan, which is handy for sowing mass destruction on opponents while protecting skull-toting teammates. To trigger the metamorphosis, simply fill your meter by killing enemies, capturing flags or nodes, and completing other game objectives.

Source

Just a little post today.

As you may be aware Epic Games recently released a large update to their game Unreal Tournament III called the Titan Pack.  This included a variety of normal patch type fixes plus the addition of some new gameplay.  The first being the Titan mutator of the pack title.

In UT games as well as allowing full blown mods people can create mutators.  A reasonable amount are already provided but this still leaves a lot of room for community content.  Mutators are not new types of game mode, but extras that can be tacked onto any game.  Some example are; Big Heads, the better you are doing the larger your head becomes.  Slow-mo, slows down the gameplay.  The Titan mutators gives players a meter that fills up as you score kills, once it’s full you can become a Titan.  They’re are around twice as big as a normal player, have huge health, have a homing rocket launcher and shock rifle, and they explode in a nuclear blast when they die, killing anyone close by.

As well as that there are two new game modes; Greed and Betrayal.  Greed has been done many times before in other multiplayer games so I’ll only cover it briefly.  When a player is killed they drop a skull (in other games it has been a flag or some other item), run over them to collect them up.  Once you have a reasonable amount you have to make a run to the enemy base to score, if you are killed before you get there you drop all the skulls you were carrying (plus one for yourself) and score nothing.  A nice addition but nothing new.

Betrayal however is something I have not come across (although it may have been done before).  The base game runs like deathmatch, kill to score a point, get enough points you win.   But in Betrayal you are partnered up with one of the other players, they glow bright blue.  When either you or your partner kill someone, a point is added to your collective pot.  You also gain kills traditionally.  There are no weapon pick-ups in Betrayal, instead everyone has Instagib Shock Rifles (one hit kill).  Standard blasts will not hurt your team-mate, but the shock rifles also have a alternate fire, that does allow you to kill your partner.  If you do so you gain all the points in the pot, you become a Rogue and a timer is started giving your former partner thirty seconds to kill you.  If they manage to kill you, you lose all the points you gained, if you survive, you get away with it and a new partner is selected.  Should your partner kill you, you have that same amount of time to kill them.

Every player has a score attached to them, anyone below you on the leaderboard has a score of one, killing them will give you one point.  If a player is above you they have a higher points score.  This makes it difficult for someone to get a runaway lead, and makes the game more urgent. If you are Betrayed then your former partner has a much higher score, but it is not comparable to the pot, meaning waiting for your partner to strike first has no benefit.  The number is also red allowing you to spot them more easily, if you Betrayed them, they show up as green.  Along side each players score is a row of knives, a silver one for each time they have betrayed a partner, a gold one for five betrayals.  If you join an online match beware of the person with a lot of knives. 

I didn’t fully understand all of the mathematics of the points system until I watch this instructional video on Youtube.

This is an interesting game mode that adds a new angle to standard Deathmatch, the bots are pretty good at it too.  All of the maps from standard Deathmatch are on offer, some of the maps can be a little big, making it difficult to track down your ex-partner.

Unreal Tournament III was on a Steam Free Weekend yesterday, what with all the problems the servers had the previous weekend.  I finally got a chance to play the full game and found it pretty reasonable, but not great.  Like UT2004 there is a mod community, but it’s not very large at the moment, that could still change however.  There is also something about the visuals, they’re sharp but don’t quite feel right and some of the maps are far too brown.  I’m glad I didn’t buy it originally, but makes a nice addtion to a collection if you can get it cheap.  I could have bought it through Steam (£8.39 until next Sunday), but since you can still register the retail in Steam I bought it for £4.99 from The Game Collection.  I’ll just keep the downloaded files in Steam until it arrives, then I can register it and play straight away. 

Update:

My copy has arrived from The Game Collection, on the site it said New but Unsealed.  I’m fairly sure it is not in the original plastic case, but everything is there and it registered with Steam very smoothly.  Well worth the lower price.

On Steam there’s a free weekend for Unreal Tournament 3, which was created by the makers of Gears of War, so I guess it’s worth checking out. I believe that it’s a first person shooter game.

Steam is a gaming service for the PC, you’ll need to download and install Steam here. Once you do that you’ll have to go to Unreal Tournament 3 page and choose to download it.

It’s a pretty big download though, so be wary. I would download it but with my connection the way that it is I suspect it may not be a good idea. Regardless, I figured i’d give some of you the heads up.

Lost your job in the recession? No matter – Steam is offering Unreal Tournament 3 for nothing this weekend. Get yourself a Steam account, download the full game and start dominating. Unfortunately it will revert back to pay-to-play come Monday, but it’ll only cost you US$12 to buy the full game after that. Possibly the best demo ever…