ReadMe for UED Game Of Telephone 2015 for Unreal Tournament
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               Title: WIP
            Filename: UEDGameOfTelephone
             Authors: Simon "Sat42" Trim, Molnár "makemeunreal" Balázs,
                      Rob "Doublez-Down" Collins, Will "Mister_Prophet" Drekker,
                      SteadZ, UBerserker, Semfry
       eMail Address: NA
         Website URL: NA
        Release Date: 20/02/2015
         Last Update: 18/05/2015
             Version: 0.71


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Play Information
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                Game: Unreal Tournament
          Level Name: WIP
           Game Type: Unreal SinglePlayer
            Botmatch: No
       Single Player: Yes
         Multiplayer: No
          Difficulty: Easy-Unreal
        Dependencies: None
        New Textures: No
          New Sounds: No
           New Music: No
         New Weapons: No
  

====================================================================================
Construction
------------

                Base: New level
          Build Time: - Sat42: About 35 hours between the 11th and 17th of February,
                      2015.
                      - makemeunreal: February 21 to March 1, 2015.
                      - Doublez-Down: March 2 to March 10, 2015 (although really 
                      only 4 hours of work on the last day!).
                      - Mister_Prophet: About 5 actual hours between March 11 and 
                      March 17, 2015 (plus long stretches on some of those days 
                      where I was heavily distracted and happened to have Ed open).
                      - SteadZ: March 18 to March 25, 2015.
                      - UBerserker: Between 15 and 20 hours from March 29 to 
                      April 2, 2015 (had a lot of free time).
                      - Mister_Prophet: May 1 to May 9, 2015.
                      - Semfry: May 10 to May 17, 20-30 hours
   Ideal Playercount: 1
      Editor(s) Used: Unrealed 2.0, Unrealed 2.1
      Display Driver: Tested with EXUOpenGL
          Known Bugs: Warp Zones have visual glitches, to be cleaned up

====================================================================================
Installation
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Unzip UEDGameOfTelephone2015 and store the files according to the following guide:-

Guide:
*.unr and *.ut2 files go in Maps\
*.utx files go in Textures\
*.umx and *.ogg files go in Music\
*.uax files go in Sounds\
*.u, *.int, and *.ini files go in System\
*.usx files go in staticmeshes\
*.ukx files go in animations\
*.ka  files go in karma\
*.upx files go in prefabs\

====================================================================================
Extended Description
--------------------

NA

====================================================================================
Authors' Commentary **SPOILERS**
--------------------------------

- Sat42:


I launched the UED Game Of Telephone 2015 mapping event on UnrealSP.org in an 
attempt to gather mapping enthusiasts around a friendly project that could deliver a 
fun map for the community to enjoy within weeks. This idea stemmed from discussions
that had taken place in a forum thread which had been opened to probe interest in
organising a new community event - and it quickly emerged that a collaborative 
effort would be welcomed by most. I had wanted to contribute to this community and 
so, despite being a newcomer (as a mapper at least), I went ahead and declared the 
opening of that fully public mapping event with a no-barrier admissions policy.

As the one organising the event, I thought it would be a good idea for me to 
kickstart the project by immediately providing potential participants with a first 
segment for the map - from there, anyone would be free to add their own work in any 
way they want. Due to the foreseen mosaic-like nature of the level in the making, I 
quickly decided that the best introduction to the map would be to have the player 
"teleport" there: the first room was designed from the onset to be a "teleportation
chamber". There was a problem, however: the dynamic sound that played upon arriving
in the level got systematically cut when starting the map from the UT menu - I think
this has to do with the way the game engine cuts the playing menu music track upon 
starting a map. But I really wanted that sound to play when the player materialises 
in the chamber! So I figured I was going to have to add a sequence before the actual    
arrival in that room: this led to the development of a short intro sequence with the
help of interpolation points - the "jump" through hyperspace. It turned out well,
although it took way too long to implement, as this was my first attempt at making 
a "cutscene" in UED. I have to give credit to Paci's mastodonic Redeem Your Space,
for providing an example of this kind of intro (see Haros - Mages Tower). If you 
listen carefully, you can still notice a slight "hiccup" in the sound when starting
the map from the game menu - but as the hyperspace sequence only uses ambient sounds
it doesn't result in a shortening of the sounds. This intro also proved to be a nice
way of "plunging" the player into the level.
The crowbar may be just a detail but it took me over three hours to make it, due to 
difficulties in modeling BSP at this scale; I am proud of how it turned out, and to
anyone who doesn't know - the accompanying translator event is an Easter egg :)
I also made an exit to my teleporter room, in the shape of a short hallway with a 
"pressure door" (which was already a mover) as a placeholder. What happened next is
interesting: no matter who contributed next, I really expected the mapper to make 
the pressure door functional and build a new room beyond it; but makemeunreal made 
the choice to extend the hallway (removing the mover in the process) and add stuff 
to the extended portion. The basic design of the passage is still there: the general
shape (made from an extruded shape designed with the 2D editor), the texturing of 
the floor, ceiling and walls, and the ceiling lamps with associated light actors and
sounds. makemeunreal then added the lamp fixtures on the sides, the holo messages, 
the floor grids with water flowing beneath (which is thematically consistent with 
the design of the teleporter room), and of course those windows which, if you go by 
the one window which is open, lead to storage rooms and the like. In effect, the 
next mapper made, from a thematic perspective, a better transition between my area 
and his than I could have hoped for! While the mover was removed, makemeunreal did
keep the general idea that the passage can be sealed off by adding those "blast 
shutters" at the end of the hallway. Another thing which I think turned out really
well is the composition of colours: the teleportation chamber has white, gold, blue
and red lights and now in addition to these one can see a fifth colour: green, on 
the other side of the tunnel - where makemeunreal contrasts the clean, flashy tech
of my section with a decaying tech structure. Awesome! :)   




- Mister_Prophet (1st turn):


Starting Node Count: 4142
Ending Node Count: 8367

Day 1: 

First thing I did was re-examine the level with DD's contribution now added to it. After a brief evaluation my first act was adjusting the triggering style of the level's only door, previously added by DD. After this I just kinda sat there in front of my laptop brainstorming while the film "Hulk" played in the background. This is the 2003 film with Eric Bana and directed by Ang Lee. In my opinion it might be the best Hulk adapted for live action. I really disliked the Edward Norton one, and watching the 2003 flick after several years just reconfirmed all the reasons why I feel it is superior. I watched the whole thing, occassionally glancing back into UED. Jennifer Connelly is a goddess. I remember seeing this Dario Argento movie with her in the 80s when I was a kid, that and the David Bowie muppet movie she was in; instant crush. I think if she asked me I would eat rotten fruit out of her butt. She's much better than Liv Tyler. Liv Tyler sucks. Ed Norton sucks. Ang Lee's Hulk is a masterpiece and if you don't agree you must be stooooopid and you can rest assured that nobody in my family tree will be sharing genetic material with anyone from yours. 


The beauty of the film really imparted something on me, and when I refocused on the level I had eradiated mushroom clouds on the brain. So it goes without saying that I wanted to shy away from the UTtech room DD made, using it as a antechamber along with MMU's bit. Let's go outside! Plus, also, I felt the level needed some gameplay at this point. Something is gonna die in my segment. Be it the player or some creature.  

So I set all textures to HighShadowDetail=true and started on a way to get out of DD's room. I duped a couple of crates and paused to inbibe some starbucks. I had a hard time ordering this, btw. I went with my girlfriend earlier and asked for a large coffee. The lady kept saying "Vente" and I forgot the new vernacular I have to use when ordering crap at this place. In case you don't know or your country is fortunate not to have this overpriced piss, this establishment imposes a lingo system on its patrons that effectively changes the cup sizes to new denotations. And they'll let you know it when you have the audacity to walk inside without saying it right, or in my case caring to remember. Vente means large, grande means medium (yeah I know, right?), and apparently they call small cups "tall." Am I really dealing with this? This was a white person who looked like she was barely out of highschool. Gimmie a fucking large coffee you little tart, Jesus Christ! You were in kindergarten in 2005 probably.

Just did a rebuild, map's at 4377 nodes. That's 235 out of 5000 for me. Let's see if I can get out of this room by expending 500 or less. By the way, I really like DD's lighting in here. Not sure how to take MMU's UT tv screen stuff, maybe we can pretend it's a rec room. I consider adding something to the middle of the room, the part that uses a RichRig crate texture as a floor. But I lose my train of thought. The credits to Hulk are awesome by the by. 

4384 nodes. Sleepy Hollow is on. Christina Ricci is in it but I think she was still Jailbait in this one. I was jailbait when it came out also and I remember not being able to keep my eyes off of her when I saw this in theaters. Didn't follow the plot until years later, though Walken manages to steal this one and all he does is yell at people. Seriously, watch it. He yells at everyone and he's the best actor in the movie. I had a crush on Christina Ricci for years after seeing her in the Addam's Family movie. Her eyes are hypnotic, and they still are in this but I change the channel because it is strange to watch her so young in this even though she is older than me in real time. But here she had barely even filled out yet, so I grab the remote. Good movie though. I put on The Big Lebowski. I saw this in the theater with my dad. Timeless movie from the Coens...or one of the Coens, I never remember which ones they double team and which they don't. I manage to map while writing and watching, but I admit the progress is compromised as a result.


I take an hour break to play Monster Hunter 4. I make a new armor set for my High Rank runs. I really needed this piece for my arms but I had to make a few passes at this damn bug before it dropped the part I needed. I redress my Palicos while I'm at it. My main Palico is named Plunkett and he is adorable. Philip Seymor(sp?) Hoffman is in Big Lebowski, I almost forgot. He's dead now. To think that John Goodman outlived him. John Goodman is the man, btw. Like...he's just the best. I hope he lives forever.

I picked a scab and the space between my eyes is bleeding. Greeaat. When it stops I start making an exit that uses this walkway DD constructed. I also add lights to the alcoves he made. And some new inventory. And a lift. UTtech is so 2001. There are people who are going to play this level who were not even alive when I grew bored of this set, I expect. I use it anyway. The ends justify the means. I just hope I have enough nodes.

This map needs plot. And I need sugar. I consume some Entenmann's Pop-Ems. Saint Patty's Day styled, since it is coming up. Chocolate with green sprinkles. I consider the idea that we are making a sort of waystation for mercs built around a site, and soldiers of fortune seeking a bounty beam in, grab gear, and take a plunge for glory. I like that idea. Taking a plunge. A drop point for thrill seekers risking death. Not sure how to implement that yet.

I realize there are two zoneinfos in the first section so I delete one. Around the same time I run out of coffee. I get mapper's block for twenty minutes and make a sandwich. I want to use mayo but there is no mayo. I sit down and write the last three sentences, then I get back to mapping. I realize the actor that played General Ross in Hulk is also in Big Lebowski. Sam Shepherd? Yeah, pretty sure he is. Nah, Sam Eliot. It's Sam Eliot. Very masculine guy without even trying. I admire that. Great voice. Everything he's in is good.

All right how many nodes we at? 4551. This brings me to 409 and I'm almost out of this UTtech1 room. Okay, gonna have to make a hallway and a big door. Under 500 here we go. Trying to use textures from this set I haven't really used. But used is the perfect word for this set. Goddammit. I'm trying here. 4593 nodes total, almost. Gonna be close. Lights in the pillars, stairs. Big door. I run into a blank zone with the ceiling. Took a leak and came back to add pillars to the center of the steps with beams going horizontal. Throw the player's attention off the boring slate above. I use a switch technique from Dead Cell, though I make it here with fewer polys. 

5021 nodes total. 879 nodes to my bill. Fuck. Well, at least we can move forward :) And with a touch over 4000 nodes left to do it in. 


Day 2: 

Anniversery and her birthday. We drove around all day doing stuff. She liked the statue. I sure as hell was not going to compromise the situation by opening a laptop make Unreal levels. Sorry guys. 

One place we stopped was the comic book store. I was going to pine the DC section for the latest Batmans but this Chad Chaddington was standing there manhandeling whole packets of issues, looking like he was picking through variants and what not. He was literally oblivious to the rest of the store and the goddamn universe, taking up the whole section and literally making it impossible for anyone else to check the latest issues of the Dark Knight and friends. He was twitchy as hell and looked like he was a juicer. I didn't want to be mentioned in a newsline that read, "local man snaps at comic book store, kills fellow nerd" so I went to where she was and browsed the manga section instead. When he finally moved I went back to the section. The issue I was looking for wasn't even there anyway.  


Day 3: 

Had to prep the room for paint, plus the guys are doing the kitchen. And then I had work. Talked about the newest Resident Evil at work with Alex, which he has played and I have not. I came home and spent the next few hours prepping the rest of my room before I pass out. No UED that night.

Day 4: 

Started painting. Then the gang met up at Ihop and aftewards we went bowling. When I got back I got a little bit laid and when she was asleep I opened UED. I had to bring my laptop in from the hall since all my stuff is moved out besides my bed and some naked furtniture under the plastic. I folded the plastic back to examine the level but it was two in the morning and I was still a little bit buzzed. I made a tesselated cube for the beginning of what is going to be the outside, wrote these last three entries, and signed off. Tomorrow night after work my goal is to finish the outside, the plunge, and hopefully a chamber below without committing too many nodes. 

Personal note, I just want to say it is my supreme lack of luck that THIS was the week I had to do this project :) A week before, a week after...would have had plenty more time.

Day5:

Got home, got food. Ate food. Called woman. Spoke to woman for approximately twenty to twenty five minutes, gave her the boyfriend voice (which is always private), ended call to make coffee but paused to defacate. Did a hunt while on the can, then successfully made coffee. 

Okay, let's dance.

I realized instantly that the Terrain was gonna be annoying because the origin was was caged in brush webbing. So I exported the deintersected network of cubes into a new level to make the terrain. I listened to LCD Soundsystem as I vertexed. I also glance at some stuff in here I've written these last few days and consider the fact that I may have overextended this whole commentary feature, and then I consider deleting it.

Geometry imported and rebuilt. 5276 nodes now at the map clock. We have a steady pulse. Now that it's cut, papa needs to texture this punk. King Crimson brings me home with "Epitaph." We're cooking with Gen Earth and I'm your host, Chef Prophet. 

I start listening to Grandaddy. Got tired. Stopped mapping around the time I made the brick structures that will be the top of the great leap. I hope I have time to finish this.

Day 6:  

Worked on a bit of temple side room. Made a trap and a potential enemy ambush if certain triggers are tapped. Put a gun in here. Kinda thing I do a lot in Savage Land, kinda like it. Situational awareness. You've got flares, a flashlight. Look around. Be responsible.

5809 Nodes. I'm going pretty lowpoly here and I don't care. I'll never get this done otherwise. My room has a distinct sent of paint that is not unpleasant. I have cake with my coffee and listen to Tubeway Army. The playlist jumps and I'm halfway through Nine Inch Nail's Hesitation Marks before I realize.

I take a break to sand some bad spackel that dried from the other day. I whittle it down so I can paint over it. A few spots need similar treatment. The kitchen is covered in bags, cabinets with no drawers but plastic sheets holding the insides. I'm strangeley reminded of that bit in Fire In The Sky (also known as the only reason to watch the movie) where the guy bro man wakes up inside an organic coffin and presses through a translucent wall to see that he is one cell in a chain of many. My kitchen looks like that.

Couple of things I cleaned up today in DD and MMU's section; added pathnodes, moved a new crate into the dead guy room, deleted the bandages. On the bandages, I just didn't get how adding 10 health in there was a real benefit to the player. To compensate the garden now has Nali Fruits. Also added a little spot in the garden for a couple of seeds. Feels like this gives more purpose to this little side area now, players will actually have a reason to go in there besides reading the UT message on the TV. 

Okay, so combat. There are troopers in the DD's UTtech1 section, right outside. Two per difficulty, filtered according to their weapons. They all drop something but there is only one fixed appearance per difficulty. The second guys have a 65% chance of appearing. Way it works is two troopers for easy, one trooper and one infantry for medium, two infantry for hard, and a gunner and an officer for Unreal. The gunner gives the Unreal player an early access to the eightball but the Officer only has a chance to drop the stinger. Only the Easy difficulty troopers drop seeds, but a stinger is provided shortly after for them as well. There are eight of them altogether but only two at most per difficulty. All their placements are different. All set to Ambushing in orders. The player will have an automag and a dispersion pistol to combat them, the reward being the dropped items and weapons.


I just did my first test play of the level. Really good run, no issues with gameplay. OddsofAppearing on the enemies may be too lucky at 65% but I just need to do more tests to confirm this so I'll leave it. Perhaps other people can make that call. Only issues I noticed were that the stupid lever for the big doors doesn't want to keyframe cleanly. Little jerk keeps jumping its grid, I knew I was gonna have a problem with this so my first task will be to replace it with a push screen trig. Probably shave some polys doing this also since that thing was a bit complex. Since a previous mapper who will remain nameless used FractalFX for one texture, I will use that set for the switch. Also, the brick that rises via trigger to block the arrows was hilariously set to default move speed, so I had to fix that. 

Also, hope people pick up on this. I named all the zones. Dunno if I mentioned that earlier. But consider it mentioned. Not sure if UB (or whomever is next) will get what I hoped I had time to add down here at the bottom of the Demon's Grave, but I guess this is a trust-based project. 

6187 Nodes. I'll never hit my ceiling. Won't have time. Might as well make a glorious last room. 

Last Day:

I gotta finish this today. And it's St. Patty's day. Perfect. Forget about a race against time, this has now become a race against inebriation! Who will win? Man? Or his hateful liver?


Seriously, this isn't a joke. I gotta finish this before she gets back because I cannot let her drink alone. No movies, no music. I will allow myself the priviledge of eating some Kit Kats, because I am American, and we must strive to live better no matter what the cost! Okay so, opened UED. 6725 nodes? From whence they came!!?

Okay whatever, one room. Ish. Not bad. I ain't gonna be able to add this boss battle. Like, no way. So lemme at least finish room, add some pupae, and see about cleanup. Above, I'm adding some dead guys and some birds. We good? Yeah, we good. Back down into the pit. Dead people, working on brushwork. Making green tube things. Oh my god I'm literally looking at the clock. She's been sending me dirty texts this whole time by the by, and I must forfeit the truth my friends that I am as suseptible to sexual distraction as the rest of you meat popsicles. I wish I was a bigger man about it, but alas I am not. Crunch time. I'm flash firing rebuilds to merge walls left and right. Pressing 7000 nodes, which leaves me about 2000 to my build ceiling to breathe in.

Okay let's do another rebuild now that the first door has been made with all the surrounding particulars. Okay, I gained 8 nodes doing that. Let's duplicate it three times. Lots of green and weak yellow. Before I do that though, I gotta make this door. Queen Door has four parts, awesome. Double the work, duplicated a few times means 12 movers down here. Okay, let's just do this. Add, merge, rebuild, intersect, convert. Piece by piece. 

She came home and we had to take the car to the shop. I follow her in the Murano and afterwards we get lunch. Of course she suggests that we stop for Italian and we go in wearing green, eating Italian on St. Patty's. I joke with her about it in effort to pour salt on the wound. I tell her she couldn't find an Irish place to eat because they don't exist, and she starts saying how Flannigan's down the road has food, but I correct her by saying that Bars that also have food don't count as restaurants. She gets defensive about this, asserting that it was originally a restaurant that turned into a bar and not the other way around. I ask her what is on the menu. She says Chicken Pot Pie, burgers, steak, and then stops herself, and I laugh. But I want to get laid tonight so I cut it short. We buy beer with an Irish name at least but this is America so I imagine something will get lost in translation. There is whiskey at the house.

Okay I'm back, I gotta finish this level. She's playing Irish music and we're arguing about whether we are going to watch Into The West, Boondock Saints, or The Secret of Roan Inish. I'm sick of the Boondock Saints. Like....I've been sick of it for ten years. Enough with the fucking Boondock Saints. I tell her this but she likes Norman Reedus so we compromise. I get to watch Into the West after she watches Boondock.

I finish the door and make the last room, which will technically be four last rooms. I must have had green on the mind subconciously the whole week while was I envisioning this area. You'll see what I mean.

Okay. Are we done? 8367 nodes. Peace!  




- Mister_Prophet (2nd turn):


Day 1: 

Not at home to download the latest version of the level, so I start working on something to get the juices flowing. I've got time, Mad Max is on behind me, and I want to map.

Max ended and I've made a room with an open roof, probably gonna start with Titans. Did a lot with Titans and Krall in Savage Land, pretty comfortable with them. Yeah, Titans. Gonna be about Titans this time. Or, at least I'm going to open the door with them.

Ronin is on. This is a really good one. 

Womenfolk called me, distracted me for twenty minutes on bullshit. Why do Women call you if they have nothing to say? I start to make up lost time by reusing styles I've employed in Savage Land for big doors and pillars, without duping any brushes. I never get the measurements the same way twice, dunno why. 

Gonna start with a fight room, but prolly gonna need to add a "lean in" later, to explain how we get here. They said on the forum that a porter takes you to a ancient/ruin kinda zone. If Not to my liking, I'll force it somehow. But this...I like this. This is happening.

Lotta car chases in Ronin. Good ones. The kind we used to feel in our gut. Now it's all too perfect, cgi'd up the ass and full of fluff and zazz. This looks real. It looks real on people's faces as they turn corners, how cars clip surroundings and bottom out. Nothing looks planned. Deniro sells a close call with a wrinkled brow. I miss this.

I enjoy making the doors to where the Titan emerges. Take my time. 

Ok, it was too complicated. I vertex edit a quick job and move on.  

That doesn't work either. The fucker keeps pausing by the doorframe, tossing rocks like a jerk. Good news is the pound event works fine with the pain triggers I have set above the player. See it always seemed like a wasted attack, the Titan's ground pound. Usually the player is far enough away where the animation does nothing but give the player a free window to get some shots in. I'm forcing close quarters here and the spikes on the planks and doorways leading in add an extra threat to the killing field. Players are too comfortable dodging these guys with rocks tossed in their face, spamming the DP. Nobody makes use of the pound attack, nobody thinks about it when they are making levels, and no Unreal player bats an eye when it happens. 

Their folly will bring me great pleasure.

They won't want to prolong the battle and risk a pounding into the spikes. Plus, they can't stand in the doorway and get cheap shots because the spikes are lined up on the ceiling. If they panic and fall into the trench they have just engaged a Titan in close quarters. Given the weapons the player has acrued in UB's section, there could be a lot of variation to this. But I'll tell you this; nobody is gonna be casual with these Titans.

This is kinda how I've been using these enemies in Savage Land. You fight a lot of Titans in Savage Land and because of that I've had a lot of time to get intimate with them. I used them before in the past but never with this level of appreciation. I'd like to help give these guys their teeth back.

Fucking door! I make a third set, all primitives. It works. 


Day 2: 

Garage sale, then me and her fool around and after I take a long nap. Needed it. When I woke she was reading some fan fiction where Sherlock Holmes bricks in Watson's face, and I'm immediatly sorry I rolled over and see this on her screen. I played Bloodborne. I made a character based on the Plain Doll and named her the Plain Doll. Lots of awesome player reactions. Most people in this game seem to wear the same outfit, use the same weapons, but I run into a decent amount of players who try to be creative. I have some nice exchanges with some, and I help a lot of players deal with Gascoigne and Blood-Starved Beast. I even manage a few wins against Vicar Amelia at level 20 with just my flame sprayer and torch (the doll prefers not to use melee weapons). This was a good day.


Day3: 

Work, then had to be home for Jeff's birthday. My little brother is 30 today, and I feel more depressed for me than I do him. I bought him a PS4 and a lot of alcohol. Like, the expensive kind that I could care less than ten shits for but he enjoys out of some strange prestige kinda thing. Don't get it. Does it get me buzzed? Yes? Okay good enough.

I watch Game of Thrones with Laurel. This show gives me anxiety. We get romantic afterward and I forget to map, sorry guys :(


Day4: 

Mapping now. Okay, more rooms, more sections. 

First thing I do is add spikes to the tops of the planks over the Titan trench. These brushes are nonsolid for two reasons; first, they prevent people from getting a hop back to the upper area and second, to guarantee player injury upon encroachment with the triggers. However, previously only one side of the planks had spikes and since the player is dropping in from above before the battle is started it was misleading. People would see the flat sides, think of them as "platforming landings" on their way down, which would result in them falling through and taking damage. With both sides of the boards spiked, at best they will see this and avoid them by default (making them aware of them as a potential danger) and at worst they will learn the hard way that they hurt (again, making them aware of them as a potential danger). In every case, the player knows about them immediatly, and I win.

I had an idea that sprung from a gameplay addition. See, if you fall into the trench with the Titan (which is actually an all too easy consequence with offsets and all the manner of ways player movement and the ground pound can launch people) I didn't exactly have a fall back plan for what to do if you are actually in there and alive. It didn't exactly seem fair to just say to players, "you fucked up," and leave them to skill a Titan at close range. So I added these little chutes that you can crawl into at the bottom of the trench on either side that leads back to a room that allows you back to the upper platforms. But of course, this meant a potential for players to cheese the titan from the hole, so I had to expand the layer of pound traps (more spikes) to these little crawlspaces. It gives the whole battlezone kind of a "thick" vibe since there are places in walls that backtrack to the main area. Plus, I may add some superficial life into these side rooms (tentacles, flies, ect) to add to the danger of using them. Plus, inventory scatters. So the player can use them, be it because of a mistake or by choice, and it makes the battle more dynamic, multi-staged.

I'll add more to this when I get back from work. Think I might make the trench the actual post battle exit and segway this directly into another Titan battle. I have a stretch like this in Savage Land, where one titan battle leads into another, and then so on, with the battlezone getting larger each time.  

I just got back from work. I ain't working this anymore tonight. Bloodborne. Sorry. Not really.


Day 5: 

Why is it always my fucking day off that everyone in the world wants to talk to me about shit they should have talked to me about last week? Everyone shut up, mapping.

I finish the crawlspaces, with ceiling hazards. Had heated metal bars that singed the player but the lighting was shit and I couldn't get the fog a way that I liked it, so I dropped the idea and went with more spikes. Plus, I don't know if anyone is gonna add an asbestos suit later.

I mirror the two crawlspace rooms and quickly lose favor with this idea. It's cheap. So I bust apart the stairs and rearrange the hazards in one side.

It's hot in here today. I map lazily and I know it.    


Day 6:

Listen to the Interstellar soundtrack to get me in the mood. I have to get a lot done today, and I know it. 

Let's dance.

Second titan added, chair sequence from Velora as an inspiration. There will be a third titan, but I've got to get there first. 

I add the high area section, finally. 'This Corrision' from Sisters of Mercy fills my brain as I push through the caffeine high. This is going fast now. I turn my phone off. Lighting, yeah I forgot about that. Oops. I import a torch from Savage Land because I can't waste time making a new one. Okay so how about we backtrack to The Plunge? Only 1877 nodes you say? Okay then.

Okay so I got a sequence I want to test. Enter area, see some Krall, maybe you kill some Krall and maybe you find a chest, or maybe you don't and you drop down or you drop down anyway, fight a titan, kill a titan, open a door and fight some krall, grab an amplifier and trigger another titan, fight said titan. Okay, let's play it and see.

Okay. All right. It's pretty all right.


so first impressions. Everything worked, technically. My setup to make the lower crawlspaces harder to cheese the titans from kinda half works. The ground pound is random and sometimes you go up into a dangerous spot, often you don't. The spikes...might need to rearrange some of them. Or add more. I don't want to make the drop down situation grim by making the crawlspace locked until you reach the ammo altar (thought of adding switches there that could "unlock" the crawlspaces) because a player that falls down there is fucked. And I don't want to put anyone in a one-way situation. But sadly, the biggest problem is that the Titan's rocks just don't enter the crawlspace nomatter how much he throws them. He's too close to the wall. Using a BlockMonsters would work to keep him back and at the right angle so his rocks enter...but then I have to have the Krall capable of going in there also. 


Hmmm. Could peg someone to make a special BlockTitan actor. Or...run with it for now, move forward.


Played on Hard and Unreal. Stone Titans replace normal ones on those difficulties. Adjust their health slightly. This feels better. Yep. The spikes are effective on hard, good the way they are.

Okay, so the path back to The Plunge was annoying me earlier today, so let's finish it now. Have to retexture my old stuff. Now I have to find a way to slim the hallways to match back in a way that's seamless. Certainly nobody will notice. No no, course not. 
Okay that's done, finally added a rifle too. Now I have to link the beginning of UB's Green Path to Titan's Row. Seems like UB already named his ZoneInfo here. The "Plains of Caladoborg," interesting. It is just too bad I started Titan's Row before I saw this. Sorry UB, but I had another plan in mind. Also, I realize that I have to retexture this room as well, so I set to doing that. Wanna wrap up this end of it before I call it a night.

Goddamn UB, this room is so overscaled. Textures are all jumped up too. I expand abit on what UB did, add a connection. Yeah, we're done for tonight. Sleep.


Day 7: OMG crunch time.

I add another series of "ducts" to the 2nd Titan appearance. I make the decision to expand the final Titan sequence to a boss rush battle, featuring said titan. I just...wanted more.

I need to do this crap in the Queen section too. Dammit. 

I focus my last day on the end of Titan's Row. One Boss Rush battle, plus the arena it takes place in, all in one day. Okay, go!

She's got little penguin earbuds. I plug 'em into my brain, direct feed to my brain juices, which vibrate soon with Trent, Francis, Mick, Roy, Enio, Gary, Robert, and the rest of the team. Kim Deal makes a guest appearance, sernading black anacondas. I heard this song on a commercial the other day. I think it was insurance or something. I choked pretty hard on my laughter in the middle of my den when it popped up on the screen. I know corporate marketing can be pretty clueless, but we all decoded this one back in 1988 for god's sake, and we were kids. Seeing the young, white, hipster couple standing on the lawn smiling with unearned smug satisfaction as a kid flies a kite...all the while Kim croons about loving it when black cock rams her pussy...holy crap, had me in absolute stiches...

Okay I took a ten minute walk. Couldn't concentrate. It reminds me of people that think Elton is singing about having your head in the cosmos in Rocket Man. Yeah, he's singing about how he likes rockets all right. Right in his face. 


I've gotta make the room enter-able, but not exit-able, ya dig? So I smash the stairs. Only way out is gonna be via teleporter. Don't care. No time to care, I think.

This is kinda getting slammed together, I admit. Just adding and subtracting till I have a room, and then I'm adding doorways, spawnpoints. Don't have time to make it look clever, it just has to work. Not even sure the sequence until I start adding events. Maybe open big, end big, dunno. Should I even add a third titan at this point? 


This is somehow coming together. I just...damn if only I had done more yesterday! Remind me to bow out of round 3, a week is too frustrating for my perfectionist sensibilities. I didn't get to add my Queen fight last time, I'm sure as hell adding this boss rush. And then I resign. 

Okay, so they come in. Drop down. Warlord appears. Items scattered around the place, they think "suspicious, but there's a warlord so let's run around maybe grab a few of them." When they beat the warlord, he teleports, and then they think, "Ahhh shit, fuck you Prophet," and somewhere a Prophet snickers. First wave is no big deal. Krall. Below and Above. Just then a door opens, and a Titan appears. This is the first one they've fought that's toe to toe on ground level, but hey we have lots of space. Maybe they choose now to use their amplifier. Maybe they don't. Maybe they used it already and are cursing themselves now. Maybe they already know that there are two. They learn quick that there is a new stomp event in here that shakes the map, so they can't count on distance so well. But maybe they kill the titan. Forget about breathing, we have a warlord again. Warlord shows up again. They dance, he flees again. "Oh jeez it's gonna be like this, isn't it?" they might muse, and somewhere a Prophet whispers, "you ain't seen nothing yet."  Again, they schuffle. He flees, "God dammit, how long is this?" they are actually saying it now, and somewhere a Prophet clears his throat and smiles. This time there are Skaarj Troopers. Worst case scenario. They schuffle. Each one drops their gun, their ammo. It helps. But health is getting scarce. The Skaarj are dashed upon the arena floor, and then our friend the Warlord appears again. They got this far and are hip to it now, and the bastard at least drops items each time he flees.  This time when he vanishes we get a Titan fight on the upper walkway, a Stone Titan regardless of difficulty. But his stomp attack has a little surprise. Yet maybe they win anyway. or they die and curse me out and exit the game. But they they win. And then the music changes, and we fight the Warlord for reals. 

Yep. That's pretty cool.     




Semfry:

My segment was intended to be a huge cave with the giant pipes as a centrepiece; this was inspired by an Aliens themed Tomb Raider custom level I played that had giant pipes as a big feature for much of it. This fell apart pretty fast because the area was so huge that it was kind of selfish in how much space it took up, and I probably would have went way over the node limit anyway even if I got something done. After a couple of days I refocused and decided to make a contained set-piece instead (though this was still only part of what I had in mind), which fits the nature of the challenge much better. I kept the pipe idea and made them part of a combat arena instead. I also worked under the rule of keeping to Queen.utx as much as possible; it's a very underused set for pretty good reason (as it's somewhat limited and highly detailed, which makes it tougher to fit to geometry), but I wanted to try and make full use of it. I used Skaarj.utx for a few things (namely panels which are very lacking in Queen) but I managed to stick to this. I also wanted to keep it low-poly while preserving atmosphere; ancient environments tend to be more varied, but high-tech themes seem to have become a race to add as much detail as possible, and I wanted to explore alternatives (plus it keeps the node count low). This area was too small to do that much, but I'm happy with the main base part (including the intentionally non-standard lighting colours). I feel the actual cave part is lacking (The right part in particular really needs something more, but I guess there's next time...), but I couldn't think of anything good to add so I eventually just stuck with a hole in the ceiling and some fog for atmosphere. 

I had a pretty solid idea for the fight soon after starting and wanted a multiple-fronts ambush. In practice it's more exploitable than I expected, but players who try to take it on without fleeing the pit ASAP are going to run into some issues, and the Skaarj at the panel (who isn't scripted in direction like the others) adds some unpredictability. In the end I also did a bunch of BSP fixing as there were various issues that had come up throughout the level. There's only so much I could do but in theory it's more stable than it was now.

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Copyright / Permissions
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This level is copyright 2015, by Simon "Sat42" Trim, Molnár "makemeunreal" Balázs,
Rob "Doublez-Down" Collins, Will "Mister_Prophet" Drekker, SteadZ, UBerserker, Semfry.

Authors may NOT use this level as a base to build additional levels without explicit
permission from the Original Authors.

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2008 Epic Games, Inc. and Digital Extremes. All Rights Reserved. Published by GT 
Interactive Software, Inc., Infogrames, Inc. and Atari, Inc. under license.  
Distributed by Valve, Stardock, GOG.com, GameTap and GameShadow. Unreal Tournament, 
UT, UnrealEd and the Unreal Tournament logo are registered trademarks of Epic Games, 
Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

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