These days it's hard to throw a rock into cyberspace and not hit a rousing round of multiplayer mayhem.
Part of the success of these games can be attributed to the plethora of new levels that trickle onto the scene from amateur level designers. To help you test the waters of level design we put together a simple, step-by-step outline to create your own death-match level for "Unreal Tournament."
To create your own level use Unread ED. It's the excellent mapmaking utility that you'll find tucked in your "Unreal Tournament" folder.
Creating rooms
Once it's up and running, you'll see four windows. These will represent the top, front, side, and 3D views of your level.
First we need to create a room shape to work with.
On the left-hand side, about half way down, you'll see a cube icon. Right-click the cube to get the cube properties box.
Now change the X, Y, and Z values to 512 each. This determines the dimensions of your room.
Last, select "build." This will give us a nice big room to work with.
Now we'll create smaller rooms within the larger structure.
Place the cube brush somewhere in the top view and with the keyboard, hit Control+S to create a room.
Move the brush over slightly and create a second room nearby.
Right-click on the cube icon again and change the X, Y, and Z values to 256.
Use this brush to create a hallway between the rooms, but be careful to line up all your floors in the front or side views before subtracting the hallway.
Adding textures
Now it's time to decorate the level.
Select the texture icon along the top bar, opening up a .UTX package.
Select a texture and then right-click on a target wall and choose "apply texture." The wall will now be painted with your selected texture.
Lighting
To add lights, right-click on a ceiling and then choose "add a light here." The little torch represents where light will originate from when you're playing.
Starting points
Next, we want to tell the map where to start the players.
Select the actor class browser, again from the top.
Under the heading "navigation point," highlight the selection "player start."
Back in 3D view, right-click on the floor, and you'll see that "add player start here" has been added as an option. Put one in each room.
Building
Now it's just a matter of selecting the "build menu," and then highlighting "build all." After your computer has worked out all the features, just save the file as "DM dash" or whatever suits your fancy -- as long as you use the prefix "DM." Now simply click the play level button and -- wham, bam -- you've got yourself a new map.
Part of the success of these games can be attributed to the plethora of new levels that trickle onto the scene from amateur level designers. To help you test the waters of level design we put together a simple, step-by-step outline to create your own death-match level for "Unreal Tournament."
To create your own level use Unread ED. It's the excellent mapmaking utility that you'll find tucked in your "Unreal Tournament" folder.
Creating rooms
Once it's up and running, you'll see four windows. These will represent the top, front, side, and 3D views of your level.
First we need to create a room shape to work with.
On the left-hand side, about half way down, you'll see a cube icon. Right-click the cube to get the cube properties box.
Now change the X, Y, and Z values to 512 each. This determines the dimensions of your room.
Last, select "build." This will give us a nice big room to work with.
Now we'll create smaller rooms within the larger structure.
Place the cube brush somewhere in the top view and with the keyboard, hit Control+S to create a room.
Move the brush over slightly and create a second room nearby.
Right-click on the cube icon again and change the X, Y, and Z values to 256.
Use this brush to create a hallway between the rooms, but be careful to line up all your floors in the front or side views before subtracting the hallway.
Adding textures
Now it's time to decorate the level.
Select the texture icon along the top bar, opening up a .UTX package.
Select a texture and then right-click on a target wall and choose "apply texture." The wall will now be painted with your selected texture.
Lighting
To add lights, right-click on a ceiling and then choose "add a light here." The little torch represents where light will originate from when you're playing.
Starting points
Next, we want to tell the map where to start the players.
Select the actor class browser, again from the top.
Under the heading "navigation point," highlight the selection "player start."
Back in 3D view, right-click on the floor, and you'll see that "add player start here" has been added as an option. Put one in each room.
Building
Now it's just a matter of selecting the "build menu," and then highlighting "build all." After your computer has worked out all the features, just save the file as "DM dash" or whatever suits your fancy -- as long as you use the prefix "DM." Now simply click the play level button and -- wham, bam -- you've got yourself a new map.
