ASSIGNMENT 04: MOVERS & TERRAIN

So this is a small, urban environment, so unfortunately there's no terrain deformation.  There is terrain, but it's flat.  I didn't see much point in using it for this environment, except maybe for aesthetics but I figured that could wait for later.  Maybe I'll throw in piles of sand in the corners or something.

Now movers. I got plenty of those!  Realistically, I didn't think there was much call for it if I could use crates and jump panels.  Stylistically, on the other hand, I could always have magic carpets.  I guess that'll be another texture I'll need to get.

Here's one at ground level.  I think it might be possible to have the player chase the thief out the door on the right and onto the roof of the building on the left without breaking the flow too badly.

Maybe I should make it go higher.  Jumping from the awning onto the roof might be something of a stumbling block...

I had to lower the roof of the truck to make it more accessible.  With a good head of steam, you could probably leap from the roof onto the carpet!  ...Or overtake the truck and fall behind it.

Accidentally fell off the roof trying to make this shot.  Goes up pretty high, doesn't it?  I was thinking I could also have it fly about the level in increasingly less useful ways, although that might make it something of a pain as you wait for it to get back to the start point.  Maybe if I can make it reset...

Thought I'd give you a view from atop the carpet this time.  ...Hey, what's that on the building to the left?

Oh!  It's a door!  This one's meant as more of a secret area.  Maybe I should put it a little more off the beaten path.

What the...?  It's almost like it's got a hinge or something!  I bet it didn't take you guys as long as I did to figure out how to do that.  I asked how on the UDK forums, but was ignored.  Maybe they thought it was obvious, or nobody of use actually read the post.  Apparently, if you left-click on the InterpActor, you can go to "Pivot" and select "Pivot Here."  (I prefer the one with the snapping option)  Not quite as easy as the BSPs, especially when you also need to keep the key frame selected.

The same door from inside the room.  ...I'll have to put some lights in sometime...

Huh?  What's this?  A big door on the main building's second level?

Double doors, beeyotch!  I don't know how many of you guys figured this one out, but I'm rather proud of myself.  It took some trial and error, especially since I did this one before the single door.

Again, from the inside.  I wonder if it isn't too bright in here.

There's just this room with a carpet on the other side, though...

I'm a little concerned this climb might a tad disorienting.  I already had to widen the shaft a little bit, but maybe I should just hollow out the entire dome...

 
The view from the top's not to spectacular.  I had to jump to make this shot.  The windows are just high enough that you can't jump over the sills.  I'm thinking of putting a small sky sphere around this with skyline texture so I don't have to actually build it myself.

Now that I'm done with this, I can get to work on the textures!

Also, here's some video of my project thus far:

ASSIGNMENT 03: LEVEL BLOCKED OUT IN DETAIL

Alright, here's my new level, which I think may be my final project as I work on it throughout the semester.  I was told to take ten screenshots from various angles, but I went ahead and did fifteen.  This is supposed to like a Moroccan bazaar, which you will be chasing a thief through.

First we have the ground level.  Here are the outdoor stalls.  The angle tops are supposed to be awnings.  Actual stalls would be set into the building, but for now I wanted them just take up space.  I tried to make the avenues wide enough to walk through even with the stalls before I put them in.

I used a liberal amount of crates to make sure players don't wander off the map.  I thought they might seem a bit conspicuous (especially considering how many I used) but once I put the stalls in they seemed a little more plausible.  Still, I might replace some of them with immobile NPC's if I can I can keep the player from walking through them.

So how did all these crates get here?  By truck, of course!  There are two trucks on the map, primarily just to block off the avenues.

Due to a miscalculation on my part, this truck has a space just big enough to squeeze through.  Kinda defeated the purpose, but I liked it anyway so I'm not too bothered.

Also, you can hop into the backs of the trucks!  Cool, huh?  I might put some crates in them later.  Oh, and wheels.  I didn't put any wheels on the trucks.  Don't tell anyone, okay?  I'm hoping no one will notice.

The main building is smack dab in the middle of the map, and takes up over four times the real estate.  Two avenues intersect in the middle of the building, and below is one of them.  Note that the stalls are lower.  Since they're indoors, they don't require awnings, but they are still angled in order to show off the goods.

Oh, and there are crates in here, too, for much the same purpose as the trucks.  Although, some of them you can bypass by walking on the stalls.  I don't know if that's a big deal, but I'm sure I can fix that one later.

Yeah... Maybe I was little too liberal with the crates...

 The piece d'resistance! A huge dome on the top of the main building.  I made it by creating a sphere and then creating a negative cube under it.  I'm considering having the chase conclude on the tower at the top.

What Moroccan bazaar chase is complete without a roof-top dash?  Not, mine, that's for sure!  Currently, there's no way up, but I'm blocking things out anyway.  Note you can see both trucks in this shot.  I think I can use them to get onto the main building, but it's too big.  Maybe I can disguise a jump pad as a flagpole or something.

Here's a shot from the second story of the main building.  It's a little higher to accommodate the large doors and to increase the grandeur.

One of the more elaborate second stories.  Some structures up here are made with walls, but a lot of them are blocks.  Also, I find the stalls help in traversing the gaps between buildings, but also help get past the crate blockades.  Well, I can always move them or make them higher.  Of course, there's always making it a walled city.  Maybe even a palace on one side.

The view from the top!  I'll have to add more buildings or something, since there isn't much to see here.  The terrain doesn't go much further, either.  I haven't decided how you're getting up here, though.  I'm thinking either scaffolding or a staircase up the middle.  Well, I suppose there's not reason I can't do both...

I was also supposed to model the terrain, but this area is fairly urban so it's bound to be pretty flat anyway.  I suppose I could bury the outside is sand or something...

No new reference images, either.  I forgot and I'm lazy.  I got a ton last week, anyway.

Also, here's a video of the level:

ASSIGNMENT 02: BSP LEVEL BLOCKOUT

 The instructions were a little murky, but I think I got it right.

 The first two screenshots are an attempt to recreate the reference image.

The level isn't quite finished yet. The rest of these images are all from areas I could walk to without exiting the level and choosing a new start point.

This one is from a set of stairs I made, arranged so you see the door as you reach the bottom.  Yeah, there are some glitches.  I assume this one is due to my forgetting not to use the scale tool when enlarging the giant walls (I can only assume it's been fixed in more recent version of UDK).  The rest I did properly, though.

The view from the walkway in the middle of the second shot.

This one is taken from the balcony you can see in the first shot.  Technically, I can't walk to this point, as I haven't put any stairs or floors in front of the door.  I can, however, jump into the door from a lower level, and there is a floor underneath (level with the three-door entrance) that I can safely land on so I can try again without resetting the level.

Thought I'd take a couple extra screenshots.  These are of the stairs I made.  The first goes down to the big walkway, and the second goes up to the other one I was on.  There's a taller, thinner set of stairs to act as a "handrail" so you don't go flying off the stairs.  The glitch in the ceiling corresponds with the handrail on that side, and for some reason extends an invisible barrier beyond the visible geometry.  I'm not sure how far it extends, but I can put a hole in it with the brush tool.  It's not visible in any view, so I have no idea what's causing it.  I suppose I could just shorten the handrail...

I've made a couple edits since, but I didn't want to spend 15 minutes waiting for my laptop to rebuild the level just so I can take another picture.

I'm not entirely certain I'm supposed to actually post the reference images for my final project here in this post, but I guess it couldn't hurt.  I thought I'd have players chase a fleeing character through the level, and it was suggested I model it off a Persian marketplace.  Kinda difficult to find a suitable image that wasn't artwork or from a Disney theme park, but I did grab a good number of Persian, Arabian, and Moroccan bazaars and marketplaces.  I certainly hope I have enough images.  And the right sort of images...