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Multiplayer Level Blockout : Eighth Pass - "Emperor's Square"

7/31/2012

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June 9th, 2012

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   The bridge in the side garden area was a bit thin so I set up a green rectangle with the width of 256.
   Once the bridge was expanded I had to make sure the area near the stairs was also expanded upon. The expanded area was not intended at first to be an area where players would fight enemies but after the expansion I felt that this area can be a bit more open. One golden rule to follow when designing multiplayer levels is to never design a level with a dead end. I made that mistake here bit now it is time to fix that. 
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   The area under the bridge was just a dead end. I planned on opening up this area and having it wrap around to the top of the stairs.

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A top down view of the expanded areas.
   The expansion to the side garden area would allow for the player to run under the bridge up to the top of the stairs. One of the things I want to avoid is adding too many stairs. Stairs are an issue when factoring in the Ai. The Ai can make sense of the stairs but sometimes there can be pathing issues where some stairs aren't read as part of the path.
   I took the stairs on the right side of the garden and duplicated them over to the left side so I can use it as a base for the new expanded pathway.
   I began to build the pathway with a very simple design in mind. The first idea I had in mind was for a staircase that leads up to a new area that would lead up to the bridge area.
   The side stairs lead up to a new area. This new area would allow for more movement and some light combat. I make sure that there are clear routes for the player to use.
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   Originally the new area on the side of the bridge was pretty big but it sot of felt too big for now. I decided that it was best to scale it down a bit.

 I figure that if this is indeed too small I can always come back and scale it up a bit more.

   I started blocking in ares that would have broken walls. There were a few locations here in this new area.
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  Some screen caps of the new side garden area.
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A render of the side garden area with the newly added expansion.
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Iteration 8 June 9th, 2012
 Once the new are was done I called it a day. Above is a screen cap of what the level currently looks like.

June 16th, 2012

   The area underneath the bridge was designed to be defensible, but now that we added a new area behind it it was time to space it out more and make it better designed for combat.
   I made sure to ensure the spacing between the pillars is was at least 128. The pillars needed to be spaced out properly so they can run through easily without getting stuck.
   I thought that adding a bit of an arch under the bridge would help to break up the line of sight. Without the arch the liner of sight leads directly into the newly constructed area. The arch design also naturally attracts the player.
   The bridge had no way for the player to escape to. Once they were on the bridge they could only move forward or back. One thing I decided to do was to open up the broken railing on the bridge. This opening was originally intended only for the sake of breaking up cover but now I opened it up so much the player could effectively jump up onto the bridge or jump down to make a quick escape.

   The only negative side effect is with the Ai. It doesn't break the Ai paths or anything, but this is an action that the Ai can not imitate. This gives the player a distinct advantage over the Ai.
   A minor change I made to the bridge was to make the planks thinner. The way there were before didn't allow for the player to fire through them as easily.
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   The new expansion was coming along smoothly, but after some play tests I soon realized that the flow could be improved.

   The stairs were making a chokepoint that was too narrow, the player could easily be trapped at wither side with no hope for escape.

   I decided to expand the stairs and add a new area for the player. I wanted this area to not be about combat but more about "Escaping". The idea for this area would be a lot of soft cover that would initially mask the players movement but wouldn't allow them to camp and be protected.
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A comparison between the competing designs.
  When designing this area with the escape mentality I wanted the flow to be right. I wanted to avoid stairs so i thought about mixing it up with some ramps and maybe some smaller round steps.

   The two designs functioned similarly but the paths were an issue for the Ai. I decided to got with a combination of ramps and stairs.
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The new side garden area.
   I made some minor changes to the tower area of the mansion. I made it so now the player or Ai can walk along the sides of the tower. Before the player only could stand under the roof of the tower area.
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The level so far as of June 16th, 2012.

June 18th, 2012

   After a quick playtest I made a few more additional changes to the tower area of the mansion. The player now has enough space to jump onto the roof of the house and even walk on the rafters if they choose.
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   I went into the level and made some of the solid walls into broken ones. I made sure that they were about 48 to 64 units tall.

 A wall that is 64 units tall will provide adequate cover but wall that is 48 units tall will allow the player taking cover behind the wall to fire back at their enemies better when they are at a higher position.

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Iteration 8.
   After a variety of small and large changes MP-8 was complete.
- Danny Q
@Dannylv100
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Multiplayer Level Blockout : Seventh Pass - "Emperor's Square"

7/16/2012

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May 25th, 2012

   One of the ramps was uneven for no real purpose. I sat down and thought, what could go here instead? I drew up a sketch in my notebook and came up with the idea of replacing this area with a bridge, one that would connect the walled area near the bunker house with the stairs to the garden shrine.
   I replaced the old mesh and began to fit it to where the old stairs were.
   Once the new mesh was in place I began to shape into into a bridge shape. I wanted it to have enough space under the bridge so players can run around under the bridge, take cover and have it as a more interactive spot.
   The sides of the stairs had to be redone. I decided to add some place holder statue meshes along the stairs as a form of softcover.
   The shrine area was not a a bit too small so I had to stretch it out to fit. The shrine area now gave the player much more room to move freely.
   I added some placeholder rails to the bridge and after that I added a few pillars.
   I made sure that the pillars have at least 128uu of space between them. I want the pillars to be able to used as cover and possibly allow for the player to "Swat Turn" gears style in between them.

May26th, 2012

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   With the construction of the bridge done for now I decided to focus on the other side of the garden. The ramp was a boring design to be honest. It also didn't lend itself to the cover mechanic. I decided to take a page out of the Gears of War book. 
   I began to block out what would become a classic "Stairs flat stairs" design that Gears of Wars makes use of.
  The flat part is where we would add cover for the player. I made sure to design the stairs to be big enough to support a minimum of two characters. I also designed the stairs so that the player can roll up and down them in one roll.
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The side garden area so far.
I began to add some placeholder railing to the stairs and the bridge area.
  The area just above the stairs to the left of the shrine was too small so I expanded on it.
   The finished stairs area of the side garden.
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The side garden area so far.
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The side garden area inside of UDK.

May 27th, 2012

   The walled area house was a place that had really bad flow. It worked ok with the Ai but it also forced the Ai to run in a big circle to get to the other side.

   I took apart two of the house and combined them into one bigger house that was level. Before one of the houses in the back was higher than the other two.
   There was a small ramp area before that was nothing more than just a ramp. I added some new pieces to it and made it more interesting. It now lead into the house section but also had a window where players would be able to take cover at.
  I wanted to emphasize the flow of this new area. The old flow sucked and was clunky, the new one had to be better. This meant opening up the house more. I added a new circular stairway on the outside of the house that would lead to the smaller covered area and to the new house structure.
   I made sure to give this house a lot of breathing room. That meant windows and doors.
Once I was done with the right side of the house I carefully rebuilt it on the left side.
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   Once the new walled area was complete I placed it back into the level.
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The new walled area inside of UDK.

June 1st, 2012

   After a few days of play testing iteration seven I took it back to 3ds Max and make a few minor and major changes. One of the changes I made was to fix the placement of statues on the side of the stairs near the bridge.
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  I made the fence on the other side a bit taller so the player is now more visible and can shoot and be shot through the fence.

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   The bridge was one solid piece, which didn't really work. I decided that the best thing to do was to open it up a bit so players could shoot through the bridge.
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  I even added an opening in the railing where players can jump down from the bridge and climb up in the middle of a firefight.

   In the area beneath the bridge I added a door that would lead to an extended garden. It is a small aesthetic change just so the artist knows what this area would look like.
 Above are a bunch of images of the completed side garden.
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WIP - Version 7
- Danny Q
@Dannylv100
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Multiplayer Level Blockout : Sixth Pass - "Emperor's Square"

7/10/2012

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May 17th, 2012

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   This week had me making a lot of minor tweaks to the bunker area of the map. Most of these changes look to be solely cosmetic but in reality, they had a lot of changes to to the over all gameplay of the map.

   The first thing I had to address was to expand the interior of the bunker house from the center outwards. The center area has been enlarged to support combat. The area near the stairs had to be expanded too.
   The area at the bottom of the stairs was made much wider to help the flow. Players were getting suck in a bottleneck here and the Ai was having some path based issues. The expanded area got rid of these issues for now and allowed the bots to have a few more options.

  As time progressed the bots were making smarter decisions. Before they were just following the player but with the expanded areas they were now capable of picking an indirect path so they can flank the player or continue to relentlessly chase the player.
   The area around the opening to the stairs had to be expanded upon. Before it supported two players standing side by side. The expansion allows for three players.
   The openings in the window of the bunker house were too thick. The player could see through them, but when the player aimed a weapon through them their line of sight was obscured. This was an easy fix. I made the window openings a lot thinner and easier for the player to look through.
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The completed bunker house area in the map.
   As you can see from the images above the path is clear and unobstructed. If the Ai couldn't walk properly the paths would be broken and or red.

May 19th, 2012

   The main tower area had a few flow issues with spacing and sizing. I went in and made a few changes here. Most of it was minor changes to the blockout mesh but it resulted in improved Ai movement and path flow.
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The 6th pass of the level.
- Danny Q
@Dannylv100
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Multiplayer Level Blockout : Fifth Pass - "Emperor's Square"

7/3/2012

1 Comment

 

May 7th, 2012

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   This time around a lot of minor changes were made to the map. I began but restructuring the bunker house that lead into the side garden area. It was functional but the flow was pretty sloppy. The stairs were giving me a lot of issues where the bots would get stuck trying to jump from the top of the stairs down to either side of them.
   Originally the side gardens center shrine had a divider in the center of the steps. This was originally done so it can be used to add some sort of soft cover such as foliage. This however caused major pathing issues with the Ai.
   Some minor changes I made to this area was lowering one of the ramps so it is now at the same level as the floor. The second ramp on the other side of the shrine was also lowered and had stairs added to it.

   Once the stairs were added I placed some squares to cap the stairs and as something that could eventually act as cover.
   I added onto the squares that capped the stairs around the shrines. I added a two smaller squares on top to act as place holder soft cover. This will most likely be replaced by a statue or some plants.

   The stairs on the right side of the shrine were raised and so was the ramp. This was changed to make the area much more dynamic. One side now leads to ground level and the second ramp allows people from the ground to move up and down much quicker. Both ramps still lead to the shrine where the sniper rifle will be placed.

May 8th, 2012

   I made a minor change to the bunker house area. The lower part and stairs were just a bit cluttered. It was difficult for the player to maneuver through this area. There was also some path issues with the Ai. I decided to make this whole area a lot bigger.

   I made the stairs wider. Before it could have two characters standing side by side but now it can support up to four players standing side by side. There was a path issue on these stairs but after expanding them those issue dissipated.
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May 10th, 2012

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   The mansion in the center of the map needed a big change. The design worked but flow was still a very real problem. I wanted to expand upon it. Like I said the design wasn't bad it was just the flow.
   The foundation of the house was 512 x 1024. I had plans to expand it out much further. I expanded it out to a width 768 (48ft) and a length of 1280 (80ft). The expansion of the foundation added a lot more space to the overall flow of the mansion.

May 11th, 2012

   The walls around the house were a bit uneven. I decided to redo the walls. The new walls are 160 unreal units high. It gives me a lot of space to work with on the first floor.
   With the new space I was now able to add stairs. At this phase I began to start adding to the second floor of the mansion.
   The second floor of the mansion was ready to be built. I began to set the roof in place. I made sure to leave a few openings in the roof so players can throw grenades and shoot into. The second floor is an advantage but not something that would overpower a player.
   The walls on the second floor are designed to keep the players on the second floor on edge. there are plenty of windows and openings that will leave players on the second floor exposed.

   I left walls broken and incomplete so the player would have to watch his back. With four stairways leading to the second floor players will have to be careful not to be caught off guard.
   I also added a small bridge like structure in the center of the second floor to connect the room. I broke the bridge apart so players on the second floor can look down and players on the first floor can look up.
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W.I.P Topdown.

May 12th, 2012

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   Once tossing the mansion back into UDK I could see that the flow had greatly improved. There was one huge issue though. The stairs were causing so many path issue the Ai could not ever get to the second floor.

   I was stumped on how to solve this issue. I know it would not be a problem once we have a finished. I was able to solve the issue by going back into 3Ds max and turning the stairs into ramps. This solved the issue with the paths. The enemy Ai can now move along the first and second floor with ease.
   The path issues I was getting with the stairs were still very apparent. Back in 3Ds max I solved this issue by adding posts along the side of the stairs. The posts act as a divider that keeps the bots from attempting to jump off the sides of the stairs and get stuck. This simple fix made a huge improvement to the Ai's flow.
This is what the level currently looks like inside of UDK.
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Perspective view of the level.
- Danny Q
@Dannylv100
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    Dannylv100

       I am an Indie Game and Level designer, Consultant and host of Divercast.

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