I feel as though I am at a crossroads with how I should be spending my free time. I want to complete a team fortress 2 level, however I feel my current attempt in my payload race map hasn't quite worked out as planned. Furthermore I've had a common mappers advice repeating constantly in the back of my head to "never release your first map." While I admit this technically isn't my first foray into level design. I have 1 level under my belt for Unreal Tournament 2004, 1 for Unreal Tournament 3, and a few combat multiplayer scenarios for Lockon: Modern Air Combat. This is however my first quality attempt in the source engine, which powers TF2. With regard to powerplay, I don't feel like I should totally abandon it however. I've put a ton of time into creating the behind the scenes logic, designing, and redesigning the construction of the level. My current line of thinking is to put it on hold for a while. Giving my mind a nice rest from thinking constantly about it and to slowly get back in the groove of finishing it. Perhaps a break will give me a fresh perspective and allow me to look at it or approach it differently.
So what will I do? On one hand I still want to design and finish a level, on the other I could just focus my attention toward other things. Perhaps practice my modeling skills, maybe import some objects into tf2, or shift to something completely unrelated to tf2. While deciding on what to map I drew up several different possible ideas. With the inclusion of King of the Hill mode to TF2 I could create a simple and small map to fit that gamemode relativity quickly. After-all a KOTH map is just a single stage with a single control point.
I'll probably make my final decision in a few weeks time, as I am currently creating an official portfolio web site and polishing my demo reel. My computer already spent 5 hours last night and today re-rendering my senior project for inclusion into the demo reel.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Stage 3 and the Future
The Friday evening playtest went without a hitch. I havn't posted anything about it because... I got a temporary job that has thrown me off my daily rhythm. At any rate I'll be showcasing the 3rd and final stage of my level in this post. I'll save any comments, plans, and other thoughts for the next post.
The design of the 3rd stage of payload races tend to be an equal affair. Both carts run on parallel tracks, generally up 1 or two major hills, and it is usually a battle to get the high ground first. I wanted to keep the same principles alive but I also wanted to change the formula slightly.
This is the basic layout of the map. As you can see both of the bases are rather close to one another. This makes the entire map a pretty hardcore "meatgrinder" as all the players meet in the center of the map. The carts start at the bottom and the team is to work their way up the map. Also for the majority of the map your teams cart is closer to the enemy.
This is the first major floor which sees alot of combat at the start of the round. The hill also provides for the first milestone for a team to accomplish in trying as it is a rollback hill.
This is where I divert from the common formula. Usually where the tracks turn away from each other is where the final control point is. I wanted the tracks to double back at least slightly. It brings an interesting perspective to the game. In other PLR maps the further away from spawn/closer it gets to the control point the harder it is to defend. So the ideal solution is to either keep the enemy closer to your base, or to control the far end. By doubling back there is a bellcurve of sorts in terms of the difficulty of defending. It starts off really easy, becomes difficult, and then gets slightly easier. I say slightly because there is no simply and quick path to get from your spawn to the flag. They all take approximately 14 seconds.
This is the final cap room. It was a difficult design decision to make, but I chose to make it at least slightly defendable by an engineer. That being said, its not the best place to build a gun at. You are basically limited to the upper catwalk next to the control point, and the lower catwalk. Depending on the location of a sentry a team can easily use the cart as a shield and push it on the cap. The area also has limited ammo, so it takes much longer for an engineer to build. Furthermore the windows allow for players to identify any threats. A back door, access is very near the bottom of the screen, gives players another entry opporunity.
Thats it for now. Tune in next time when I discuss...... the future!
The design of the 3rd stage of payload races tend to be an equal affair. Both carts run on parallel tracks, generally up 1 or two major hills, and it is usually a battle to get the high ground first. I wanted to keep the same principles alive but I also wanted to change the formula slightly.
This is the basic layout of the map. As you can see both of the bases are rather close to one another. This makes the entire map a pretty hardcore "meatgrinder" as all the players meet in the center of the map. The carts start at the bottom and the team is to work their way up the map. Also for the majority of the map your teams cart is closer to the enemy.
This is the first major floor which sees alot of combat at the start of the round. The hill also provides for the first milestone for a team to accomplish in trying as it is a rollback hill.
This is where I divert from the common formula. Usually where the tracks turn away from each other is where the final control point is. I wanted the tracks to double back at least slightly. It brings an interesting perspective to the game. In other PLR maps the further away from spawn/closer it gets to the control point the harder it is to defend. So the ideal solution is to either keep the enemy closer to your base, or to control the far end. By doubling back there is a bellcurve of sorts in terms of the difficulty of defending. It starts off really easy, becomes difficult, and then gets slightly easier. I say slightly because there is no simply and quick path to get from your spawn to the flag. They all take approximately 14 seconds.
This is the final cap room. It was a difficult design decision to make, but I chose to make it at least slightly defendable by an engineer. That being said, its not the best place to build a gun at. You are basically limited to the upper catwalk next to the control point, and the lower catwalk. Depending on the location of a sentry a team can easily use the cart as a shield and push it on the cap. The area also has limited ammo, so it takes much longer for an engineer to build. Furthermore the windows allow for players to identify any threats. A back door, access is very near the bottom of the screen, gives players another entry opporunity.
Thats it for now. Tune in next time when I discuss...... the future!
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