D M   -  4 8 S C   -  R E V E R I E

Description

This map is the final revision of my entry to the UT99.org 48 hours speed mapping contest.
As the contest name implies the participants had 2 days to make an entire map from scratch, starting from the 27th of December (I started at 6:36 pm and finished uploading the map on Sunday at 6:37 pm).

Friday I worked about 3 hours, all in Blender, to make most of the main cave, then Saturday I didn't get as much time to map as I'd have liked but I completed about 90% of the map geometry (without textures). Everything else was done on Sunday, which resulted in rushing a lot of things to meet the deadline.



Overall I'm happy with how the contest map came out, despite the many unfinished things. Two days is a very small time frame for mapping, so the map is quite plain-looking, however I'm satisfied that I was able to complete it (despite being quite large in scale) and with how the gameplay turned out.



The original version had some playability issues (mostly BSP errors and dumb bots, biggest problem were the broken lift center actors which prevented bots from using some lifts (playtesting was one of the things I had no time for)), so I released V2 a few hours after the contest ended (it took me about 20 minutes of editor time), fixing the biggest issues.

The day afterwards I decided to spend a few more hours on it. This version (V3) is the third revision of the map (and also the last).
The biggest issues were already corrected in V2, but I improved the bot pathing and polished the visuals/sounds to make it feel more like a complete map. I like the layout and its gameplay so I thought it was a shame leaving it in a half finished state.

I decided to not update the visuals too much, I changed the geometry in only a couple of spots (with the minor layout additions or jumppad near Monument and water pipe near Elevation) and improved a bit the ambient lighting, visually the map is almost identical to the contest version.
I focused on bot pathing and item placement (using my Bot Path Node Usage mutator to check for unbalanced areas), to turn it from an half baked map to a fully functional Domination/DeathMatch map.
I also added ambient sounds (the contest version had none) and changed the music to provide a bit of atmosphere, plus I also added Location IDs which are very useful in team games.

I wrote the full list of changes between the different versions in the ChangeLog section.



The map takes place in a large cavern, with a big water lake in the middle under a tall waterfall. It was made with Domination in mind, so there are three main places: a "Cathedral", a round-shaped "Monument" and a tall building where the "Elevation" control point is located.
Being a tall map I got crazy with the Z-Axis, there are quite a few lift jumps (try some of those with the Jump Boots ;) ) and many places where you can drop down into water.

It's a pretty big map so I suggest playing with no less 12 bots, 24 works very well in Domination (with some room to spare) but depending on your tastes it may be a little crowded in DeathMatch.

This file is the DeathMatch version. It's almost identical to the Domination version, with few differences in item and spawns placement.

Enjoy

Installation

Unzip DM-48SC-Reverie-V3, then copy the following files in the respective directories of your Unreal Tournament folder:

  DM-48SC-Reverie-V3.unr in Maps\
  DreamTearDown.umx in Music\

Then either doubleclick the DM-48SC-Reverie-V3.unr file, or start a match selecting the map in the menu, or type "open DM-48SC-Reverie-V3" in the game console.

Details

Credits

Thanks to El Chico Verde for the ChicoRuinsPack and ChicoVolcano texture packs.
Thanks to Strogg for the NPStroggSh texture pack.

Thanks to Switch for the SWJumpPad actor.

Thanks to Teque for the music DreamTearDown.umx.

Stats

ChangeLog

Version 3

• Added a few path nodes to improve bot's behaviour.
• Added quite a few JumpSpots around the map, now bots can use Translocator and JumpBoots effectively.
• Added a JumpPad near the Monument control point.
• Added a water pipe/tunnel (containing a Keg o' Health in DOM and Invisibility in DM) near the Elevation control point
• Modified the ceiling above the Elevation control point to make lift jumping easier.
• Scattered some more health and ammo around the level.
• Increased the number of Player Starts to prevent telefrags when playing with 31 bots.
• Made some minor texturing changes/realignments.
• Improved the geometry of a couple of places that were much less detailed than the rest of the map (side rooms of the Elevation control point, Cathedral entrance "ramp", area under the bridge of the Monument control point).
• Changed slightly some ambient lights to brighten some very dark areas.
• Replaced the water texture with the animated version.
• Changed the health animated skin.
• Added some blocking actors to prevent bots from leaving the playing area (players were already blocked).
• Added many ambient sounds around the map.
• Changed the music from FireBr.umx to Teque's DreamTearDown.umx.
• Released the DeathMatch version of the map.

Version 2

• Fixed the masking bug on the contest banner (thanks Memsys for the fix).
• Added lighting to an unlit room, and to the upper part of the river.
• Fixed some Lift Centers not working.
• Added a couple of ammo boxes.
• Fixed a couple of surfaces that were flagged as Fake Backdrop.
• Rebuilt the map with different optimization settings (most annoying BSP bugs should be gone now).
• Fixed bot long drops.
• Bots can get the UDamage now.
• Added some more PlayerStarts.
• Added a map screenshot.

Version 1

Original Release (Contest version)

Other Levels Of Mine

MH-Annihilation
CTFM-R!P
DOM-FoT-Xyphob
DM-LP-Terror
DM-LP-Kios
DM-300K-1on1-Aelon
DM-300K-Ehat
DM-300K-Fractional
CTF-300K-Descent
CTF-300K-Hobl
MH-Glider
DM-LP-Aelon
DM-LP-Winged
DM-BCE_10100101
DM-BCE_NitroX
DM-FoT-Metallicide
MH-Templar
DM-LP-Aywer
BT-Wasted
MH-DarkWhite
DOM-48SC-Reverie

DM-Parallel
CTF-W00TF
DM-Arise
DM-Bonescraper
DM-Phyos
DM-Phyos-SE
DM-Aelon
Silent Scream Of Vengeance
DM-Remorse
JB-Yaijm
DM-165
DM-Syndrome
DM-BloodLine
CTF-Yaijm

Copyright

This level is copyright 2013, by DeathoX 8.
Authors may NOT use this level as a base to build additional levels without explicit permission from the Original Author.
You are NOT allowed to commercially exploit this level, i.e. put it on a CD or any other electronic medium that is sold for money without my explicit permission! If this level is going to be released in a pack, you are NOT allowed to distribute this level before the public release of a Stand-Alone version.
You MAY distribute this level through any electronic network (internet (web/ftp), FIDO, local BBS etc.), provided you include this file and leave the archive intact.
Unreal® Tournament (c)1999 Epic Megagames, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed by GT Interactive Software, Inc. under license. Unreal Tournament and the Unreal Tournament logo are registered trademarks of Epic Megagames, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.