UT3 DM-AlienFlow (3rd Alpha)

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hieloco

Member
Jan 22, 2008
55
0
6
42
San Salvador, El Salvador
Hello guys!

I am creating a small arena-type map for 3 players. Right now I just finished it's third iteration. I was hoping some of you could help me test it and give me your feedback!

The level is very, VERY ugly! I am aware of that!! But right now it is just a shell to test the layout. When that has been very well tuned I will do the pretty graphics!

The map can be downloaded here:

http://files.filefront.com/13819061

Apart from general comments, I am interested in two areas:

1) Level Design Flow - Does the player use most of the map space or is all the
action concentrated on particular spots? Is the player constantly going up and down the level or always keeping in the same floor?

2) Weapon Placement - Is there any area that feels too overpowered?

The above info is also in the accompanying readme. The map is fully playable with bots! I'm also posting some screenies, hehehehe hope they don't melt your eyes and leave you sterile!! :D

Thanks a lot for your help! If somebody needs their level tested I would be glad to help too!

-Eduardo
 

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hieloco

Member
Jan 22, 2008
55
0
6
42
San Salvador, El Salvador
Hey man! Nice to see you again! What are you up to?

Alright, I'll really appreciate your feedback! Thanks a lot!

BTW if you think the map sucks by all means express it hahahaha no hard feelings! :D

Also, pretty awesome signature pic you have in there!
 
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Nov 4, 2001
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The level is very, VERY ugly! I am aware of that!! But right now it is just a shell to test the layout. When that has been very well tuned I will do the pretty graphics!
That's the spirit!

And the design actually looks really interesting. I'll certainly give this a try.
 
Nov 4, 2001
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OK I went and played this with 6 bots. Overall, not a bad layout, can be a lot of fun. Here's some stuff you might want to adjust:

- A lot of times when I died I ended up hunting for a gun on the bottom, and so did the bots. You may want to either add more spawnpoints higher up or add more weapons to the bottom (even a second copy of each weapon would help). Otherwise, it's more of an Enforcer/Hammer map.

- The sniper rifle doesn't really do so well in this map. It's open, but small, so if you try to snipe, you're bound to get charged by someone from not very far away, and the low refire rate on the rifle makes it a bad choice for DM, especially in this map. This may be more of a personal preference thing but I really don't like having sniper rifles in DM at all.

- The minigun is king on this map. The link gun is pretty useful, but the minigun is definitely the most powerful in almost all areas. You might want to just completely ditch the sniper and maybe even flak and just replace them with miniguns so other players have the same loadout if they are facing someone else who grabbed a minigun.

- There's not enough health in some areas. I'd say add 1-2 extra vials next to each one you already have and then add a couple extra health packs and it should be good.

- Needs to be more ammo closer to the respective guns, especially the rocket launcher. There's no ammo near the gun itself, so you can quickly run out. It's also rarely used since most players respawn on the bottom.

- You might benefit from adding 2 or 3 sets of jump boots near the top of the map so players who spawn up there or go up there can quickly get down without taking damage, and so players on the bottom can get up faster.

- Minigun ammo next to the shield belt makes that area a little too desirable since the minigun is so good. Maybe add some rocket ammo or something there instead?

Overall, though, this is a fun layout. It mostly needs better item placement and balance. I also find it interesting that while you included 2 hitscan weapons, (sniper and minigun) and considering how powerful the enforcer is on this map, you didn't add a shock rifle anywhere. Maybe you could replace one of the weaker weapons like the biorifle (which is hard to use in an open map like this) with the shock. Shock, link, minigun, rocket launcher, and sometimes the flak cannon make good weapons for this map. The others I ignored mostly because they were out of the way or not suitable for this map's combat.
 

Leo(T.C.K.)

I did something m0tarded and now I have read only access! :(
May 14, 2006
4,794
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BSP only map, right? We need more of these. :p
 

hieloco

Member
Jan 22, 2008
55
0
6
42
San Salvador, El Salvador
Hello Guys!

@ Waffnuffly: thanks for the thorough feedback! Some things that you say I was also thinking about a bit while developing the map:

Mainly to have more spawn points, the uselessness of the sniper, the dominance of the minigun, and the fact that the rocket launcher seems kinda meh, when it should be the most coveted weapon in the level.

My idea was to have the level be for 3 players (4 players max). Did you try playing it with that bot count? (As in, you and two other bots.) If so, did you feel it was too empty for your taste?

@ Anubis: Yeah, now that you mention it, it does look like an old AVP2 level. Must be the fleshy texture. It's just a placeholder though. I used it to test normal and parallax mapping.

@ Leo (T.C.K.): Unfortunately, the BSP is just a shell, it won't stay like that. :( Later I planned to export the thing to Maya, and subsequently to Mudbox, to sculpt it and turn it into static meshes. I have some plans to do another map that uses a lot of straight lines though, so that one might be great for BSP!
 
Nov 4, 2001
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I didn't try playing it with only 3 players, but I felt it was just about right with 7. I think it would have been really slow and empty with 3. With 7, I reached 50 frags right about at the same time I would on a stock DM map, which is good.
 

[VaLkyR]Anubis

Foregone Destruction
Jan 20, 2008
1,489
2
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Gaia
www.youtube.com
I played this map a little bit and I think this map has potential. Of course, at the moment the map is pretty naked, empty and got no details, but everything needs time, so let's see. The main idea of your map is actually good, because it also reminds me to a AVP environment, but it looks even similar to Half Life's Xen world. When I take a deeper look at your map, I would say that the structure looks similar to the last level of Half Life, where you got to kill the boss of Xen. Nevertheless, as I said before, the map looks empty, so I think it would make much more sense by adding orgranic things to your map. It is a organic theme, so you could add more alien stuff, like plants or any alien signs or you could open the roof and add there a skybox, so to speak, that your map is a little abyss. Another idea would be to add rivers to your map, something of alien thing or so, you know what I mean. The main thing is that your map needs much more life, because at the moment it is pretty not-alive.
[SCREENSHOT]http://img.xrmb2.net/images/390881.jpeg[/SCREENSHOT][SCREENSHOT]http://img.xrmb2.net/images/266149.jpeg[/SCREENSHOT]
The gameplay is like on everything map, get your weapons and frag the other freaks. I think it is kinda funny and good, when the map is so open like yours, because you can't escape so easy.
[SCREENSHOT]http://img.xrmb2.net/images/244356.jpeg[/SCREENSHOT]
Add much more life to your map and you will have several nice effects. I know you can do this, because your Avalon map was & is badass, I believe you can do the same in UT3 again. :)
 

hieloco

Member
Jan 22, 2008
55
0
6
42
San Salvador, El Salvador
Hey Anubis! Thanks for the feedback man! Yep, just wait to see what I have in store for the theme! Basically my idea is to bring back the "unreal" to UT3! When I'm happy with the layout, I'll export the whole thing to Maya, and there completely overhaul it. But the theme is very much a surprise. Let's just say it is nothing like what you may have seen up to now in terms of maps for UT3!

I'm happy that you liked the level. Could I ask with how many bots/friends did you play it? The map was meant for three players (four really pushing it). With that bot count in mind, do you feel it was too empty or overcrowded?

EDIT: BTW, I'm really happy that even at this stage you get the "Alienish" feeling!
 
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