DM-Hydraulics

[Raste]

So I got a few requests from other mappers about how I did my trap, so here it is ! I might do a tutorial video on this to explain in detail how this works, let me know if that would be of interest !

The trap activation:



And the trap damage system and animation:

[Oblivion2500]

So I got a few requests from other mappers about how I did my trap, so here it is ! I might do a tutorial video on this to explain in detail how this works, let me know if that would be of interest !

The trap activation:



And the trap damage system and animation:

Yeah a tutorial would be nice!

[Raste]

Yeah a tutorial would be nice!

There you go !
https://forums.unrealtournament.com/...l=1#post121298

[Raste]

Small update:

The sniper balcony has been updated like this.


Here all the borders have a slant now. This allows a few nice tricks jumps and easier access.


Finally this place is still a bit of an issue. For now I'll leave it like this and we will see what the players will say.


I'm very curious to know if anyone tried this map on a server or in Lan. All feedback is welcome !

[Raste]

Some news about Hydraulics

I had only little time to work on UT4 lately so that might explain the lack of updates on this map. The second reason is that this is the stage where the shell is in a good enough state to be played and ultimately modifications on the layout will depend on feedback. I know the map is available on at least irridium's server (thx for that bud !), so feel free to give it a spin and write me some feedback here. There is no need to be afraid to give feedback, you would be surprised how a simple "I like this element...", or "I don't like it because of this..." can help me improve the map tremendously. Every feedback counts and is useful.

The second part of this update is that I've been working on the art design I want for this map and soon I'll start popping concept drawings in this thread. Hopefully I'll be able to start making the first art passes in January of February. Stay tuned for more and thanks for the help/feedback !

[Oblivion2500]

Some news about Hydraulics

I had only little time to work on UT4 lately so that might explain the lack of updates on this map. The second reason is that this is the stage where the shell is in a good enough state to be played and ultimately modifications on the layout will depend on feedback. I know the map is available on at least irridium's server (thx for that bud !), so feel free to give it a spin and write me some feedback here. There is no need to be afraid to give feedback, you would be surprised how a simple "I like this element...", or "I don't like it because of this..." can help me improve the map tremendously. Every feedback counts and is useful.

The second part of this update is that I've been working on the art design I want for this map and soon I'll start popping concept drawings in this thread. Hopefully I'll be able to start making the first art passes in January of February. Stay tuned for more and thanks for the help/feedback !

Well I will say that I really liked the trap and how it works. I'm very impressed with the layout and improvements you have done to this map in the past few months. What is the intended theme going to be? Sci-fi? Dirty or Clean? Ground or Space?

[Raste]

Well I will say that I really liked the trap and how it works. I'm very impressed with the layout and improvements you have done to this map in the past few months. What is the intended theme going to be? Sci-fi? Dirty or Clean? Ground or Space?

Thanks ! I will go for a clean techy theme. It will be a bit sci-fi but not that much in the end. I want to make a clear structure with beams painted in a high contrast color (probably metallic orange), and a ground made of tiles with writings on them. The whole map will have pipes to cover the ceilings. I want to keep visual clarity in the map at all costs. Other elements will be electric boxes, wires, opened panels on the walls and grids to fill in the rest. I'll come up with concept arts of the static meshes in the next weeks. The whole map will be quite bright lighting-wise.

Btw did you manage to make your trap work ? I totally forgot to check back on your map (sry about that, been quite busy lately)

[Oblivion2500]

Thanks ! I will go for a clean techy theme. It will be a bit sci-fi but not that much in the end. I want to make a clear structure with beams painted in a high contrast color (probably metallic orange), and a ground made of tiles with writings on them. The whole map will have pipes to cover the ceilings. I want to keep visual clarity in the map at all costs. Other elements will be electric boxes, wires, opened panels on the walls and grids to fill in the rest. I'll come up with concept arts of the static meshes in the next weeks. The whole map will be quite bright lighting-wise.

Btw did you manage to make your trap work ? I totally forgot to check back on your map (sry about that, been quite busy lately)

Sounds cool.

Yes, I sort of figure out the trap thing but I decided that I'm going to make a completely new map layout first and then focus on making the trap work. I've been very busy too lately.

[Raste]

Just uploaded the new pak for the latest version of UT:
http://bit.ly/1uu464z

Would love to play in the map sometime !

[Raste]

Just watched the stream, big thanks for the feedback !!!

I'll take all the elements you have mentioned and I will improve them. This gave me a lot of ideas. Many of the elements you guys said were becoming more apparent to me as I took a pause in the development of this map and only recently took a new look at it. Time to reopen this map in the editor and take it to the next level.

New version coming soon !

[Raste]

So there was quite a lot of information to process / think about in the stream. Though it hurts to destroy half the map, it's clearly for the best and it allows me to get rid of some areas of the map I was not happy with anymore. Took me a full evening to watch over and over the stream to make sure I got all the feedback and come up with new ideas to implement all that feedback into the map.

I've redrawn on paper the following rooms by taking into account the feedback given in the weekly stream. I'm super excited to test these modifications (pretty heavy). I'll spend the week-end working on these:

- Shock rifle room
- Link gun room
- Flak room
- Chest armor room
- The room with the ramp coming from the flack room

I globally what I understood from the stream was that the map mainly suffered from the following symptoms which I'm working on correcting:
- needs easier movement in some places (link gun ammo ramps)
- should be less linear / less hallway feeling
- less vertical progression
- the room should be more tied together
- always need 2 to 3 ways to reach strategic locations such as weapons, armors and power ups
- no triangle shapes !
- Avoid the blind corners and always grant the maximum visibility on the items
- the enforcer will be replaced by a direct access to the redeemer to make it worthwhile jumping around the shock rifle area. It will also give two paths to get the redeemer (if we consider the bunny track)
- will improve a bit the looks of the trap and make it further more rewarding
- the whole map should be clearer / brighter
- try to add new paths to get rid of that feeling of being disconnected from the main area of the map
- should be a bit more bunny tracks in the map, they seem to be really fun gameplay-wise
- spaces should be a bit more opened
- the map will be a bit squeezed to accomodate 4vs4 better and allow players to more quickly get from location A to B across the map

I'm really happy to have received this feedback, the map will only benefit from it. There is no need to be a level designer @EPIC to give feedback, so guys if you enjoy the map and want to help me make it a great UT experience for all the players out there, please do so !

[Raste]

Destroyed half the map and rebuilt this in roughly 10-12 hours of work since yesterday.

From top left to bottom right:
1) I used the columns as a repeatable design element as suggested by Sidney, removed the triangle shape and found another way to break the line of sight. The ramp is now larger.
2) New flak room. I broke linearity by adding a new entrance/exit to this room. It now leads to the chest armor.
3) The path between the flak and the chest armor.
4) Arrival behind the chest armor.
5) New stinger area, now 200 UU thinner.
6) View on the chest armor from the stinger. As Jim explained, it's better to have a view on the items to know if it's worth going there or not. I'm really trying to cut these blind corners.
7) New link gun room. I completely removed all the creepy, not working BSPs in there.
8) Link gun room viewed from the path going to the top floor. Added this path to better connect the map. As said on the stream, the map feels somewhat disconnected from the main area, this is my solution to improve it. Note that I added boots to the map since it's very vertical. Might not be that useful, we will see.
9) As Nick said, the underground is suffering a lot action-wise as it is so disconnected from the rest. Therefore I removed the bridge in the middle of the trap, made it a regular jump to get to the amp, and added a jump pad just below the trap. This is a neat shortcut that will make your enemies cry laughing when they get you in the trap haha.
10) Better view of the new Amp configuration and access.
11) View of both the chest armor and the stinger area
12) I felt bad removing the fall down to the link gun room, so instead I put it to the bio rifle room. With the water, you will know when an enemy uses this route and it still offers a good shortcut.

Feedback is appreciated !

[Raste]

I will get crazy and do 5 posts in a row (someone please break my spree ! haha)

After the weekly stream it became really obvious to me that I had to do a major rework on Hydraulics. So I pretty much destroyed 3.5 months of work and rebuilt all the rooms around the central area this week-end. As I have solved a good number of issues mentioned in the stream, I more than probably have introduced new flaws in the map. I also have removed some interesting trick jumps, I will have to work new ones into the map (suggestions are welcome). The item distribution also has to adapt to the new layout and it will take time and many tests to figure it out correctly.

But for now I leave you with a preview of the newest version:

All feedback is welcome and considered.

[Avalanche._]

I will get crazy and do 5 posts in a row (someone please break my spree ! haha)

After the weekly stream it became really obvious to me that I had to do a major rework on Hydraulics. So I pretty much destroyed 3.5 months of work and rebuilt all the rooms around the central area this week-end. As I have solved a good number of issues mentioned in the stream, I more than probably have introduced new flaws in the map. I also have removed some interesting trick jumps, I will have to work new ones into the map (suggestions are welcome). The item distribution also has to adapt to the new layout and it will take time and many tests to figure it out correctly.

But for now I leave you with a preview of the newest version:

All feedback is welcome and considered.

Looks MUCH better than before, eager to play on this sometime soon, only gripe is the addition of the jump-pad under the trap, it looks a bit out of place :P

[Raste]

Looks MUCH better than before, eager to play on this sometime soon, only gripe is the addition of the jump-pad under the trap, it looks a bit out of place :P

Thanks ! The jump pad could be replaced with boots. Globally as we talked the underground still needs quite a good lot of work to improve it. I will see what I can do about the turbines eating to much space down there.