

	DOM-Aphrodite
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	by Tynan Sylvester    	tynan@planetunreal.com
	June 2003 


	Installation and Hard Data                                     
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-Place DOM-Aphrodite.ut2 in your /UT2003/Maps folder
-Place Ty_GreekSmeshes.usx in your /UT2003/StaticMeshes folder
-Place Ty_Greek.utx into your /UT2003/Textures folder	

Gametype:	Double Domination

Recommended
No. of Players:	4 - 8

Weapons:	ASMD Shock Rifle
		Rocket Launcher
		Flak Cannon
		Lightning Gun
		Link Gun
		Minigun
		Biorifle

Time Frame in
Production:	Circa March 14, 2003 to June 30, 2003

Number of
Internal Versions:	80 ( Yes, I have 80 different versions of this map on my hard-drive, plus 20 versions
			of each statue type and several of each skin and texture )

Other Levels by
Author:		DM-Lightfalls / DM-Nightfalls

Birds fly back and forth over the temple. Look out for them.

	Music
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Big thanks to Pablo "Guybrush Threepwood" Delgado for helping me out and making some kickass
music for this level.

	Commentary
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Alas, my second UT2003 level has finally arrived. I feel like Dr. Frankenstein from those old movies...

	"It's alive!"

This is my little write-up that I do for each project. Enjoy!

	On lighting:
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The status quo for lighting on Unreal maps these days is to have them quite dark. Rarely do I see a bright map,
and even then, it never has that look of being under direct sunlight. In real life, direct sunlight is extremely
bright. It adds a level of natural beauty that makes one think of glistening white snow or powder sand on a long
Caribbean beach. This is what I tried to move towards in my lighting style.

The biggest worry I have here is that people are really not accustomed to seeing lighting schemes like this. 
They'll have trouble adjusting out of the usual dark and gloomy level atmosphere to something bright. My 
biggest worry in risking such a lighting style is that many may not wish to adjust to the new level of brightness.
I worried long and hard about risking this, but finally decided that part of the entire point of the level is to show a 
try to emulate what real, natural sunlight looks like. I'd ask you, the player, to try to appreciate what I attempted
to acheive by doing the lighting as I did, and not compare me to those old-style industrial levels.

Another danger with the sunlight is how it leaves nothing to the imagination. Dark maps have the distinct
upper hand in this matter, as they take advantage of the human brain's natural ability to extrapolate 
visual information based on a dark picture. 

	On theme:
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The theme has varied in my mind and in the level as work has progressed. Originally, I was thinking about
going for a "techno-Greek" style, where I would mix modern technologically-based styles with the look of
ancient Greek temples. After making a few meshes like this, I decided I didn't like it so I scrapped that aspect.

One of the major challenges I faced when choosing the Greek theme was the narrow range of colours it afforded
me. The all-marble look required a lot of spicing up in order to look colourful enough. I used mosaics,
trees, the sky, wooden/metal platforms and blue shadows to try to acheive this effect. Outdoor shadows are blue 
in real life because the sky is blue - much of the light that is reflecting off the shadow surface will be coming
directly out of the big, blue sky.

	On statues:
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The statues were always a major part of the level. They take an extreme amount of time to create from start to
finish. It is also very risky, as a level designer, to be creating large vertex-lit static meshes. There is a
serious risk the lighting becoming disgusting if done improperly at that scale because the vertices of the mesh
are so far apart.

I went through many versions of these statues. They were very difficult to get right, especially on such a large
scale. The scope and complexity of the statues alone was intimidating at first, but I slogged through and they
were finally finished. The effort was worth it. I believe that the statues are really what "makes" this map and 
pushes it that last extra mile. Overall the statues alone probably took about two weeks of work.

	On throwing out material:
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I threw out a lot of stuff. Sometimes I'd redo entire sections of the level, possibly several times. This adds to the
quality of the finished product. It was hard sometimes - I almost fell in love with some of the stuff I had to dump.

	On time:
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I made this level during two periods of frenzied level design effort. The first was in mid-March, when I had a few
weeks off and Steve Polge sent out a mail to all the mod developers informing us of the upcoming MSU contest.
I wanted to be in on that, so I worked my butt off for the two weeks. Then I basically did nothing all the way up 
until the actual contest was announced, at which point I began working my butt off once again. The two
periods during which I worked were quite intense. My time went towards one of four things: level design,
school studying, piano, and sleep. It was a lot of effort, but I think it's paid off in the quality of the finished
level. Effort pays off.


	Credits:
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	Concept Art..............................................................................  Tynan Sylvester
	Geometry................................................................................  Tynan Sylvester
	Lighting...................................................................................  Tynan Sylvester
	Pathnoding..............................................................................  Tynan Sylvester
	Textures..................................................................................  Tynan Sylvester
	Technical Testing....................................................................  Tynan Sylvester
	Sky Render..............................................................................  Tynan Sylvester
	Music......................................................................................   Pablo "Guybrush Threepwood" Delgado
	This Preamble.........................................................................  Tynan Sylvester
	Second Opinions / Gameplay Testing....................................   Pablo "Gubrush Threepwood" Delgado
							   Gui
							   Yordle
							   Jay
							   


All contents of DOM-Aphrodite.zip are copyright Tynan Sylvester 2003. If you wish to host this file on the internet, you
are free to do so, though please mail me first at tynan@planetunreal.com.
