Bump
Good day to all,
I could say I am an old time Unreal player, first played it way back in 1999. It captivated me so much that no other game since has satisfied me in the same way, by creating a rich atmosphere, providing tense gameplay, unique weapons, diverse characters (many of which don't harm, but provide environmental depth) and much more. Half Life is another amazing series of SP games I love, but doesn't have the same atmosphere as Unreal.
This idea of Unreal Evolution really got me interested in wanting to contribute. I have mapped for Unreal Tournament, many years ago. My skills were limited then (and even now, I don't know many advanced things in UnrealED) and I focused on Deathmatch maps with Gothic/nature based architecture, I made a couple of levels (lost those files, they're probably on my old hard drives in India) inspired by levels like Nyleve Falls, Harobed and one inspired by Cellars at Dasa Pass using those textures and also a couple of tech levels.
I have little to no experience in character creation, scripted sequences, but can do movers, terrain and other geometry - and I think I can come up with some cool ideas for levels. I really want to recreate the original Unreal's atmosphere with the new tools of UT3. My real worry if I try to attempt such a thing is how far behind we have fallen behind the developers in terms of skill, over the past 10 years.
I am willing to help in level creation, provided someone can help out with the characters, scripted sequences, texture generation etc.
Some things that Unreal did that subsequent titles from Epic don't do:
1. Prisoner 849's identity, background, that irony of being a prisoner but thrown headlong into something far bigger than manageable
2. A complete world with its own biosphere - don't have to shoot everything that moves
3. "Believable" characters - the characters in UT2003/04 and later look like junk, although amazingly detailed. The only one I seemed to like in UT2004 was Asp. In Unreal, there is the feeling that these guys survive on spacecraft as prisoners and then meet unfortuate fates on Na Pali.
4. The desolation of Na Pali - the Nali culture, their strange powers, their buildings, their mythology - one felt like one was navigating through something beautiful, sadly beset by conquering alien forces like the Skaarj, Mercenaries and others. Locations like the Temple of Vandora, The Sunspire, Na Pali Haven. Relatively quiet locations like Harobed
5. A wide variety of aliens to fight, with interesting lifecycles - Skaarj pupae, Skaarj warriors, troopers, Lord, Queen and their subclasses
6. Unique weapons with great sounds, new gameplay methods and lots of impact - like the Flak Cannon, Razorjack, GES Biorifle, Stinger and ASMD (with a combo!).
7. Massive battles with bosses like Titans, Lords, Queen etc.
I think it was a combination of these elements in the right proportions that led to the game's cult following. I think it can be recreated with the new engine and technology, except that needs a large and dedicated team who have a real urge to bring back the glory of Unreal and fill the void that has been around since Unreal 2 (which, although a good game in itself, didn't fit into the Unreal universe).
I have something of a game plan which may be useful. It involves the maps and how we can combine/modify them in order to accentuate the experience or generally make things easier when making the mod.
1. Vortex Rikers and Nyleve Falls can be combined on one map's geometry easily. Since the original Rikers seemed too small to contain all the geometry in level 1, we may have to change that detail. More open spaces around Nyleve's falls, maybe a few blocked off paths to the Nyleveland level in the expansion pack with added mythological references.
Include a female Nali here.
2. Rrajigar and Depths of Rrajigar also combined. Lava bits could be made tougher, some new events added to improve the map. Change the music here. We can make the mines creepier, add more detail that shows the tarydium mining, etc.
3. Sacred Passage (small level) and Chizra Nali Water God temple can be combined into one map easily. More monsters, more open spaces, more water.
4. Ceremonial Chambers - could be expanded while retaining the feel of the original. Meaner slith monsters, more grand architecture. The whole Chizra level bit should probably contain fewer Central american textures and more Nali textures, while retaining the references to water, the whole mythology and the general darkness of the place.
5. Dark Arena - one of my favourite levels. The entry mechanism to the castle should change a bit. Something more realistic than the walls collapsing to reveal a path to Harobed (since the dead Nali in the mines mentions Harobed).
6. Harobed - much, much more wide open space, more houses, more intricate underwater cave network, more monsters. Use Nali telekinesis to move objects rather than hidden buttons and stuff. The entrance to Terraniux should be further away from the valley, requiring trek through some kind of wilderness. Also the entrance to Terraniux should be more strongly guarded.
7. Terraniux and Terraniux Underground should be combined into one level. Spiffy architecture was the hallmark of these levels - so pimping them is mandatory
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Mercenaries can be tough, so they should be fewer and tougher. And there should be some kind of sequence to what you're trying to achieve in Terraniux, not just a survival/fragfest and arbit buttons.
8. Noork - Also a deadly map. More Mercenaries, larger Nali village, more real estate with wide open spaces.
We could experiment with vehicles in the wide open spaces.
9. Temple of Vandora - one of my personal favourite maps in any game. Make it more atmospheric, enhance the geometry, the mystery of Vandora, female Nali to be included along with the male Nali, etc. We could also script the Nali to talk to each other, make the AI more immersing and challenging in general. The open area near the temple should be a little more spread out, the little pond should have some meaning, and the Skaarj trooper and Titan should be there for some real reason rather than a stone throwing exhibition. Titan could be less agile and bigger. Geometry from the map such as tiles should come off when he picks something and throws it at you. Is this possible? Remodeling the Invisibility pickup so it looks like a Nali power. It would be nice if we could introduce Nali who perform other magic or supernatural feats through the game, as if there was a sort of existential struggle, although in vain, against the Skaarj.
10. The Trench - it is a huge level, we could keep the scale. There should really be more vegetation on the sides, more debris from the Kran as it ploughed into the ground, more human debris and casualties. Signs of life more often, the feeling that this huge crashed mass of spaceship is actually home to one more human, unlike Vortex Rikers. And of course, more gasbags, one Titan only in all difficulty modes.
11. ISV Kran - we could combine both Deck 4 and Decks 3&2 into a single map. More blood, more ruin, more decrepit spaceship, with parts working. And I'd appreciate if it were more tough than just killing enemies. We could introduce some kind of puzzle solving here. More action for the Razorjack! More pilot logs, more information about the Kran, Kira Argmanov and others.
12. ISV Deck 1 - a real test of the player's skills to fend off Skaarj. Light the corridors a little better, and give a valid source for the tons of Skaarj coming through, in some kind of information panel.
13. Spire Village and Sunspire could be combined into one level. Make the Titans blind in the night, but sensitive to sound. Sunspire is an epic level. Could have greater architecture and a more realistic entry point rather than an isolated thread of land over lava. More scripted sequences, more Skaarj, more Pupae. More time in the darkness. Make the trek up to the top of the Spire more eventful rather than just a long lift.
14. Gateway to Na Pali and Na Pali haven could be combined. Visuals should be spectacular here; some rationale attached to how the little rock in space could have an atmosphere and suppport the Nali - perhaps through the aberrant gravity afforded by high tarydium concentration or something. More layers of informaiton on how the Skaarj took over. Na Pali Haven could have more open spaces with Skaarj and facilities and more Sniper rifle Ammo. And put a scope on the Sniper Rifle for god's sake.
15. Outpost 3J should be made more challenging. More Skaarj tech and very little Nali/Na Pali stuff here.
16. Velora Pass - Stone titan effects should be better - as if it awakens from a deep petrification... and a sort of story surrounding how it was petrified by Nali, a retelling of the Messiah myth as someone who awakens the titan from slumber, along with other messianic messages. References to Kira. Some indication on a map or a transmission of where you have come compared to where you were near the Sunspire.
17. Bluff Eversmoking - An epic level, true to the developer's name.
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Should be made better by better geometry, more Krall, more Krall notes, mythology, an expansion to their dice game, more on the story of Kira as we trace her through the game. More Nali monks and more mythology about their beliefs and abilities. References to Chizra, Vandora and other Nali gods in their translator snippets. Krall should look like nothing they look in UT3, but somewhat more servile and quirky as they look in Unreal. More demonstrations of Nali superpowers of some sort such as healing the player messiah. Maybe a reference to the Skaarj lord.
18. Dasa Mountain Pass and Cellars at Dasa Pass - combine them, with a more realistic entry to Dasa mountain pass, more Skaarj in the strorage area and more weapons as you see open ISV crates. Require Nali to lower bridge. Use physics capabilities to enhance entry into the Dasa Mountain pass through the tunnel below. Cellars at Dasa Pass - is one long level. Fill with more puzzles, more Skaarj, more dead nali and more intense Flak fights. The titan part of it should probably have a larger room with more pillars rather than just the central one. The maze of underwater tunnels should be somewhat interconnected too.
19. Serpent Canyon and Nali Castle - atmospheric, definitive levels. Graphical update, more gasbags, etc. Use boat vehicle instead of mover brush. Could be combined with the Nali Castle level. Nali castle should probably have more references to nearby places such as the pass and the bluff. More reading material in the libraries, etc. more time to soak in the atmosphere, more intense but spread out fights. Navigating through water and tunnels, catacombs, etc., more scripted sequences with Nali apart from the one with the Skaarj bomber craft. More demonstrations of Nali superpowers of some sort, more layers to the architecture including Skaarj additions. References to the Demonlord, Skaarj lord, etc.
20. Demonlord's lair - more challenging combat, more items, jump boots, more tunnels under the terrain interspersed with lava pools. Scripted Nali slaves being tortured, but if you approach them, they give their life to increase your health, or something like that.
21. Demon Crater - Make this a larger level and combine it with the Mothership Basement. Include more pupa infestations. Let's have a fight outside the mothership in the huge space before entering the ship itself - after all there is one Skaarj Gunner there
22. Mothership lab and Core - these maps can be combined. We need a form of transportation in the mothership - energy lifts like at the end of the basement level. We need turrets and things like that. Energy beams you can use against the skaarj, Skaarj hibernation/sleep cycle controllers that you can use against them, tools of their own on the ship you can use against them. And there need to be a lot of Skaarj here, and Pupae. Information about escape pods and where they're located in Skaarj logs.
23. Mothership Generator. Make the sequence more interactive and fun to fight around. More Skaarj, also some kind of a heal pod which charges the shield belt and so on.
24. Illumination. One eyecandy level. Show off effects, mutations of Skaarj who rush towards you after you have affected the generator, etc. Show glowing Skaarj forming as the level ends.
25. The Darkening. Scary, impossibly tough level crawling with post-fallout/irradiated creatures. Tough combat, but healpods work. Cracked portions of Skaarj ship visible, introduce an outside element to combat where player can access Nali healing plants, etc.
26. Source Antechamber and Source - crawling with pupae, most of em won't bother you, but the ones you hurt will come back and bite. Wide open spaces populated by energy rays, etc. Queen tough to beat. Heal pods. Queen spawns pupae on the move and throws them at you. A few dead human corpses around the Source.
26. Endgame - graphically pleasing sequence with a part where the player records a log.
The original game had some 38 levels. This one will have 26, but will be longer because of the additions, toughness, etc. This could take years to make, given that we're mostly enthusiasts. In case we can't, is Epic listening?
Anyway do let me know what you think of these ideas. If anyone is developing anything, at least it would give them ideas!
Cheers!