Design Goals:

• Create an equally balanced CTF (Capture the Flag) map while maintaining unique visual styles for each base.
• Implement Matinee and Kismet sequences to make the arena feel alive through light, motion, and particle effects.
• Place path node layout so that level is fully functional with AI.
• Design new gameplay mechanic of droid cannon that provides a dramatic new player pathway.
• Differentiate the interior and exterior atmosphere to build a sense of hostility in the atrium.

Design/Layout:

Blue Base: EarthMover

One of the primary goals of this map was to thematically and visually distinguish each side of the arena while maintaining symmetrical gameplay overall.  In the center of the atrium, a massive chasm separates the opposing mining companies.  The blue base focuses on a crystal-mining theme where energy crystals drive their mining operation.  The challenge of building this structure was the lack of a cohesive mesh that looked like an earthmover.  This entire structure consists of a series of smaller meshes.  It achieves its purpose by providing an intriguing set piece and an alternate path (players can run down the center of the structure).  In game, matinee sequences animate the spinning mechanisms, dust particles, and sounds that make the structure come alive.

Blue Base: Crystal Harvest Chamber

In each base is an atrium that reinforces the goal of the mining company.  To make the blue base feel like its grinding into the planet, their atrium features raw exposed crystals that spark and crackle, hinting at their potential power.  This atrium took a significant amount of polish to make a few rock meshes feel more randomized and natural.

Red Base: Gas Harvester

To differentiate the red base from the blue, their purpose on the planet is to harvest gas from the icy pit.  Again, this structure did not exist in Unreal Tournament 3 so many smaller meshes make its body.  The lighting on the structure reinforces that it belongs to the red base.  A series of kismet events control randomized steam gouts and lights that fire on the structure, hinting at its purpose.  Additionally, atmospheric effects such as bloom lighting and field of view settings increase the hazy visual quality of this portion of the atrium.

Red Base: Terraforming Chamber

In the red base atrium, the miners study the effects of the gasses they harvest on growing plant life.  Not only does this reinforce the miners’ purpose, but also it provides a contrast to the harsh, cold exterior.  To get the feeling of a man made space overgrown with plants, a large amount of randomized clutter work went into this atrium.  

Droid Launching Station

Each base features a droid launching station that the player can use to launch across the map.  While initially this path seems unbalanced, the player must ride an elevator to reach this room and they shoot over many pickups.  This difference in paths motivates different player choices.  

Control Room

This room serves as the central computer room for the mining facility.  One of the challenges this room posed was making the flag the central focus of the room.  By blocking some unnecessary side paths with barrels and highlighting the central area with lighting, the flag becomes the obvious central point of the room.

Mechanical and Housing

This room highlights the mechanical back alley portion of the base and is dense with gritty metal structures.  Initially this room felt very low and closed off, but adding the upper balconies made the room feel larger and have more purpose.  Cables, windows, and doorways give the sense of a larger space and lend a sense of realism to the room.  

Early Gameplay Footage: