DM - Edge
For a while I wanted to make a proper duel map, although Saturation was well received it was a rather quick build and limited due to the competition as such has a few issues. After I released Cipe I was contacted by a fellow mapper, Zaibot, about contributing a map for a pack aimed at competitive play, I accepted and started work on Edge.
While I was creating Cipe I learnt a fair bit about texturing, and decided that If I was going to do another map I was going to make it as custom as possible. So after grabbing some tutorials from 3dmotive I got to work on textures and a few small prop models for this map.
The textures were inspired by Mirrors Edge, while keeping the techy, sci-fi theme of UT. As such they're rather simple yet colourful. Something UT3 lacks in most maps, but one thing I loved about Saturation was the colours. I decided to take the lighting a step further in this map and try to recreate global illumination/radiosity as best possible using the tools available inside UT3's editor. The result is a rather large amount of lights, that could be achieved in UDK easily, but it gives the map a feeling that UT3 lacks, vibrancy and cleanliness.
Edge originally started out as a map for duel but became a little larger then expected as such, I added an amp for 2v2 TDM play. It's
layout is designed for competitive play but accommodates casual players too. The design spirals around a centrally positioned belt, while placing the 3 most valuable weapons (Rockets, Shock and Flak)and other armours evenly spaced around the edges in extruding rooms.
It was released as part of the
COMP (COmpetitive Map Pack) for UT3
There's no back story to a new arena, with no major tournament games ever being played here before, only a few matches while Liandri designed and modified it to perfection.
So when you're done slaughtering your opponent, you can start writing its history.
I have made the textures used in this map avaliable here and the sky material has a tutorial and its textures avaliable here.
DM - Edge Night
Edge was a well recieved level and while played by mainly people at varying skill levels while also inspiring other level designers with the texture pack. One thing people kept asking for was a Night version, due to UT3 not really handling bright white very well...
Many people offered to do this for me, but I always wanted to be the one who made it. So after a while and one last nudge I set to it, turning a once bright mid-day level into a moonlit pit of death.
It wasn't too hard thankfully, the thousands of manually placed bounce lights were all grouped up by colour and brightness, toning things down was quite simple, I forgot I had even grouped them, glad I did. The main issue came once the brightnesses had been lowered, while many sections had light sources either emitting light or not, a few areas had been left rather barren in terms of lights.
So throw a few of my wall lights into the darker sections of the level readjust some bounce light values and Edge Night was pretty much done. A few niggling issues with collisions were solved and everything was cooked ready to be played in competitive UT3.
