UT3 DM-HardFall

2010 Apr 24 -- Release Candidate 3

Download RC3 of DM-HardFall at:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4156719/DM-HardFall-RC3.zip

This version includes crisper shadowing and a number of other tweaks.


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PREVIOUS POST (2010 Jan 20) ...

Changes include a few more pieces of deco and small adjustments to pathing, lighting, post-processing, kismet, and collision.

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PREVIOUS POST (2010 Jan 9) ...

RC1 has been available since Dec 22 from page 5 of the thread. I just hadn't updated this first post yet. I plan to upload an RC2 with a few changes I wanted, but the changes are small. Unless anyone finds problems, RC2 will become the final release.

Here are some screenshots from the latest build.

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PREVIOUS POST (2009 Sep 22) ...

This includes significant improvements to item placement and flow.

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PREVIOUS POST (2009 Sep 16) ...

This version includes changes based on feedback and a number of other small changes. One of the more visible changes is my rework of an adjacent building seen here.



The brown building is the old version. My main goal when creating it was to keep the polygon count low. In this respect it was a success, and I used materials to try to compensate, but it still looked too plain and fake to me. Therefore I decided to add a little to the poly count and redo it in a different style.

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PREVIOUS POST (2009 Sep 12) ...

This is a near-final version. I expect any changes from here will be small or will be extras such as moving traffic. The changes since the last release include, among other things, detailing of the "radio" building and work on the surrounding buildings.

At this point I am looking for feedback on anything and everything. Here are a couple particular questions I have...

I recently added a sniper perch to an adjacent building. One of the jump pads on the dark-side ledge of the garden building leads to it. It has a single pick-up of sniper ammo but no health and no sniper rifle. The rifle is on the other side of the level. The idea is to make sniping be a planned activity, but I think this might be overkill. After all, the view from the sniper area is good but not great.

I'd also like any feedback on sound. I just have a pair of headphones, so I don't know if things sound right on higher-end systems. Furthermore, ambient sounds are quiet for me from the in-editor game, but they sound louder in the full game, so I'd like to know if the balance of sound volume is good for others.

Any other feedback on item quantity/placement, sounds, appearance, performance, etc is appreciated. Thanks.

Screenshots...


This is an overview showing one end of the garden building along with the updated radio building and other surrounding buildings.



An interior shot of the radio building.



A stairwell in the radio building. In the background there is a yellow generator/engine. I tweaked the texture of it to make it appear to shake. It just seemed unnatural for it to make an engine sound without any sign of motion.



A lift in the center of the radio building. The lift itself is a custom mesh I created within the UT3 editor.



This hallway has a moving dust effect. The light cones are pretty standard, but there is also a subtle dust/fog effect through the rest of the hall. I used a grid of sheets with a material that disappears at shallow angles and as you get close. I also used DepthBiasedAlpha to prevent hard edges where it intersects geometry. The way this differs from most fog effects is that it actually catches the light by using the diffuse and transmissive channels rather than just being emmisive.



An exterior shot of the radio building.



This is what I used for the in-game preview image (cropped down to 2x1 of course).



Looking down on the garden building. You can see the newly added sniper perch on the under-construction building in the foreground. As mentioned above, I currently have the sniper rifle on the other side of the level so that sniping must be a planned activity.




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PREVIOUS POST ...

This version includes a lot more detail for the garden building... including sounds. Here are some screenshots.















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ORIGINAL POST ...

Need a pick-me-up for your 3DBuzz Contest hangover? Well here you go. This is one that didn't make the deadline, so I've picked up work on it again and have a play-test download.

More information is available at http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=167492&page=5

www.flickr.com/photos/15292857@N08/2932200249
www.flickr.com/photos/15292857@N08/2932200227
www.flickr.com/photos/15292857@N08/2613653487
www.flickr.com/photos/15292857@N08/2614486446
www.flickr.com/photos/15292857@N08/2613653345

LtClifff said:

I like BSP. But I feel that the effect you are going for could be beter achieved with static meshes in this case. Looks like a good layout and the visual stlye is promising, If rather bland.

Click to expand...

Any ideas on particular static meshes? It is difficult to find meshes in the shipped UT3 assets that work well for a contemporary city setting and aren't "grungified" to death. I am going for a less visually noisy look than most UT3 levels. The question is how to stay "clean" without being "bland". I've tried to compensate with light and shadow (the strength of BSP), though having an outdoor environment highly exposed to sunlight actually works against me in some places.

I could always do some of the classic up-ended tiles, etc, though I'd like to go for something different if possible.

Suggestions are welcome.

Wail of Suicide said:

A glass enclosure would be pretty fitting for a rooftop area with trees and such on it, and would allow you to cast more interesting shadow patterns without necessarily giving up the well-lit environment. Could be done in either simple static mesh (Metal supports + Glass planes) or BSP.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. I originally considered a glass archway over the center area but went with the vine-covered beams instead. I may or may not add glass, but I think I will add more beam/arch structures towards the edges of the building so that more areas get interesting shadows.

Wail of Suicide said:

In general I think you need more trim, and perhaps just a general more complexity of BSP to pull off a convincing environment.

Screenshot #3 in particular - Those pillars are not convincing at all because even though you've got different materials banded around horizontally, the brush doesn't correspond any height/depth changes to those visual details.

Click to expand...

It's actually just one material, but I get what you are suggesting. While the UT3 material capabilities are great, sometimes it's just not convincing without real 3D variation.

Wail of Suicide said:

You need some trim to tie in the floor texture to the red brick texture you're using. Some type of oxidized copper plating or grating would look good. Again in screenshot #3 - I think any time you've got a red brick meeting floor tile you need at least something to buffer the two because the contrast is so stark.

Click to expand...

Yes, in the last screenshot there is some static mesh trim, but those places are the exception. I'm not sure I want such trim everywhere, but I think what would work is having a BSP concrete (or metal) border along the bottom of most brick walls. This is common in real-life, would make the texturing more interesting, and would make the edge less harsh.

Also, your term "grating" got me thinking. I should not look to add pure "deco" and instead think about what such a place would need. For example, where does rain water drain to? I should add some grates along the walls or in the floors. And with all those plants, they need a way to water them, so I should add some pipes/hoses. If I add them in a meaningful way (rather than just random pipes), then it will help make the setting more convincing.
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On the topic of gameplay, did anyone have a chance to download it and try it out?

Grogan said:

... I think some of those jump pads could be fine tuned a bit so they don't result in death quite as often. As I got playing it more though, I did realize that every one of them works if you hit it just right, in the right direction at the right velocity and in some cases add to the momentum by pressing the space bar etc. Seems a bit finicky in the heat of battle though.

Click to expand...

The jump pads have higher "air control" than normal, which makes it easy to throw yourself off course. The trick is to jump onto the jump pad so that you can let go of the controls before hitting it. If you do that, then they become almost too easy. You bring up a good point though... someone who does not know the "trick" will be at a big disadvantage, which could turn people off. I might need to reduce the air control to normal levels for some of the jumps.

Grogan said:

I do like that one long jump where you MUST land in that pool of water or die. I wouldn't want you to dumb that one down at all.

Click to expand...

If you do that jump just right, then you can pick up the shield belt (on one of the high horizontal beams) without hitting the beam.

Grogan said:

There do seem to be a lot of "dead ends" inside the building where the health pickups and stuff are. Corners where you can't jump up and have no choice but to go back and find a way around... hoping you're not going to get ambushed and trounced by a flak cannon heheh

Click to expand...

There are some places that are short "loops", but there should be no dead ends. For the "dead ends" on the top level where the healths are, you can jump out the window with a double jump. It might require a little bit of a running start though. A perfect running double-jump can make it up a 128 unit high ledge. I think the ones at the windows are only 96 units.

Grogan said:

Heheh, I did find the sniper rifle. No wonder I couldn't! That's a very difficult jump to get to it. You have to hit the jump pad just right on that steeple-like thingy on the gargoyle building in between the main ones, to be propelled to the ledge on the corner of that building across the street. I saw there was a pad over there briefly but couldn't get to it. Most of the time, even when I can hit that jump pad on the steeple it just propels me back up to where I was, rather than catapulting me to the ledge across the street.

Very, very cool though. I spent the last three rounds trying to make that jump. I did get it once and when I got the sniper rifle it was sheer joy picking off those fugly bots in the head.

Click to expand...

One of the jump pads on the ledge of the smaller building leads to the steeple jump pad and to the ledge across the street. If you use the trick above, then it should be automatic. The other steeple jump pad is just for the way back.

Thanks Grogan for the thorough feedback.

Wail of Suicide said:

Screenshot #3 in particular - Those pillars are not convincing at all because even though you've got different materials banded around horizontally, the brush doesn't correspond any height/depth changes to those visual details.

Click to expand...

I added some additional BSP detail and did some other adjustments to the pillars. Here's the comparison...

-- BEFORE --


-- AFTER --


I'm not sure I'm completely happy yet, but they are a little more convincing.

Here's the latest shot of the pillars. I've been working on a number of other improvements that I hope to finish later this week.

Update!

I've uploaded a new play-test version with a lot more detail. See the first post for more info.

The garden building has much more detail than before... more greenery, trim, small supply sheds, some pipes, and the couple small interior areas are now finished (accessible from the ledge). The overall feel is the same, but the visual "density" is much higher. Plus there are ambient sounds... birds, insects, traffic, wind, lights, water, etc.

Radiosity Emulation

As an aside, here is a shot showing the impact of radiosity lights I put into the level. This is not a shader effect; I'm not that cool. It's just old-fashioned, manually-added bounce lights.

This is what it looks like with radiosity lights...




This is the same shot without them...




Note that the version of the map available for download already has radiosity lights. I just turned them off in the second shot to show the difference.

Here are a couple shots of the radiosity lights in the editor. I use spotlights with a cone angle of 89 (just short of a half-sphere) and put them just a unit or two off the surface. I found this got the desired effect without causing lightmap artifacts. I also enable only the BSP and Static lighting channels for them to avoid possible performance issues.

New Version Released

I went without working on this level for months, but I recently got back to it and now have a near-final version. See the first post for details.