October 13th, 2011
(Okay, so that image might be a little over-the-top.)
Howdy, everybody! Sorry that I disappeared for so long. I promise to try and get things around here back in order — maybe get some fresh paint going on, and possibly move to a different host (Ever used SquareSpace before? It’s awesome, I promise.) — but until then, I’ve got a download for anyone that’s interested.
As it happens, I’m back at WPI, studying as a grad student in the new IMGD masters program. In one of my classes, I’m doing a good deal of editing in Unreal Engine 3 (UDK, to be specific), and I ended up putting together a short little cinematic for an assignment. Being far more proud of it than I have any right to be, it seemed like the best thing to package together and upload as a stand-alone game for anyone who might be interested in watching it.
The download’s free and completely self-contained, so you don’t need to have UT3 or UDK installed in order to run the “game” and watch the cinematic. It’s pretty bare-bones, but hey, it’s a start! Just click the banner above or tap this link right here to start downloading the installation .exe, and let the installer do its thing. Don’t worry — you can uninstall it from the Control Panel once you’re done!
It’s good to be back, folks. Hope you didn’t miss me too much.
Posted in Game Development, Gaming, Unreal Tournament 3 | No Comments »
May 6th, 2009
Exactly two months ago, I posted an article here that discussed some of the mentalities behind level design for Unreal Tournament 3, as part of an academic project at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Today I’ve finished said project (and completed my graduation requirements at WPI!), and now present the second half of that article. Whereas the first entry dealtwith gameplay design, this entry deals with artistic design.
As before, if you feel like playing the new, Beta version of the map that formed the basis for this article, check out the previous post. But if you’re interested in some nifty things that could help you design your own UT3 level, then make sure you’ve read the first half of the article, and then go ahead and read today’s addition.
Thanks for reading! And please, don’t hesitate to tell me what you think.
Tags: Beta, DM-Reverence, IMGD, Level Design, Mapping, Tutorial, Unreal, Unreal Tournament 3, UnrealEd, UT3, WPI
Posted in Game Development, Gaming, Unreal Tournament 3 | No Comments »
May 6th, 2009
At long last, after two terms (that’s four months) of work, I’m proud to present the Beta version of DM-Reverence, an Unreal Tournament 3 space-themed Deathmatch map.
Now including custom-made art assets, this version of the map represents my final project submission at Worcester Polytechnic Institute — it is, quite literally, the last school project I worked on before graduating college. It is the culmination of an Independant Study Project I designed, and is, without a shadow of a doubt, among the coolest things I got to do for academic credit at WPI.
However, just because this is what I submitted doesn’t mean it’s the final version of DM-Reverence — far from it. As much as I’ve learned, I’ve also learned just how far I still have to go to turn the level from a decent first map into a blockbuster experience, and I intend to keep working towards that goal. Until then, however, there’s still the Beta, and it’s now available for download.
As always, please let me know what you think of the map — all criticism, positive and negative, is good criticism, and can only help me make the map better.
[After the break: three more screenshots, and a copy of the readme.]
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: DM-Reverence, IMGD, Level Design, Mapping, Unreal, Unreal Tournament 3, UT3, WPI
Posted in Game Development, Gaming, Unreal Tournament 3 | 1 Comment »
March 6th, 2009
If you’ve ever wanted to make a map, I know exactly how you feel. I’ve wanted to mold a Deathmatch level with my own hands for over two years. In fact, I wanted to do it so much that I convinced one of my professors to advise a for-credit project that would let me design, from the ground up, my very own level for Unreal Tournament 3.
If you feel like playing the first open Alpha of that level, take a look at my last blog entry — it’s got download links to everything you’ll need. But if you, like me, want to make maps almost more than you want to play them, perhaps you’ll be interested in something else.
I’ve written up a sort of meta-tutorial for level designers who are just starting out in UnrealEd. It’s not a step-by-step how-to, but rather an overview of the mentality you should have as you work through your first map. Now, granted, I’m no expert mapper, but I’ve learned a lot in the past eight weeks, and I’ll continue to learn more over the next eight. Just as my map remains incomplete, so does this tutorial. But it, like the map, will keep growing, and in the interim, you might just find a couple thoughts in there worth filing away in the back of your mind.
Interested? Awesome. Take a look at it, then, and feel free to tell me what you think!
Tags: Alpha, DM-Reverence, Level Design, Mapping, Tutorial, Unreal, Unreal Tournament 3, UnrealEd, UT3, WPI
Posted in Game Development, Gaming, Unreal Tournament 3 | No Comments »
March 1st, 2009
Well folks, it’s official: my map-in-progress for Unreal Tournament 3, DM-Reverence, has finally reached the Alpha stage. Although it doesn’t have any custom art assets in yet, it’s been lovingly scuplted, lightly tested, and heavily tweaked, and is ready for anyone with UT3 to download it and give it a whirl.
It being an Alpha, there are still several bugs that I haven’t been able to iron out just yet, but they’re not completely map-breaking. The readme file has the details. For now, feel free to download and play the map, and either comment here or e-mail me your feedback!
Later on tonight, I’ll be posting a complete overview of how I’ve taken the map from empty nothingness to fully playable over the past term, complete with screenshots and some tips for budding level designers that might save you some time I wasted.
[Update: "Complete overview" was a stupid thing to say, and I apologize. It is, in fact, the first part of my complete overview, which will be added to over the course of the coming week. By this Saturday, March 7, it should be complete.]
[After the break: two more screenshots, and a copy of the readme.]
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Tags: DM-Reverence, Level Design, Mapping, Tutorial, Unreal, Unreal Tournament 3, UnrealEd, UT3
Posted in Gaming, Unreal Tournament 3 | No Comments »
February 11th, 2009
…wherein I react, in a somewhat roundabout way, to a discussion of moral choice in gaming. Unfortunately you don’t get to see the original discussion, because it was held in-class; my apologies. If you’re okay with it, though, I’ll try to recall things as best I can.
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Tags: Dean O'Donnell, Dungeon Keeper, IMGD, James Paul Gee, Mass Effect, Social Issues, WPI
Posted in Gaming, Ludology | No Comments »
February 10th, 2009
I recognize that this is probably functionality that most hosts have, but after just upgrading the version of Wordpress I was using, I completely lost all my theme files and thought that, barring the imagery itself, I had to re-do the site from scratch.
Daniel was not happy at this point in time.
However, thanks to GoDaddy, I restored yesterday’s copies of the theme files. Problem solved. GoDaddy, you rock all.
Tags: GoDaddy, miracles
Posted in Off-Topic | 1 Comment »
February 1st, 2009
…wherein I discuss the need for games journalists at every level — but especially those just starting out, i.e. me — to start brainstorming utterly fantastic ways by which the glory of magazines could be transferred to electronic media. Because, gosh darn it, all the ideas we’ve currently got lack fantasticness.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: A Life Well Wasted, Dan Hsu, EGM, Games Journalism, Jeff Green
Posted in Games Journalism | No Comments »
January 24th, 2009
Wow. For once, “Hello world” is actually appropriate. Too bad it’s just a placeholder until I get around to working up something niftier.
[Edit: I'm leaving it in. You would too, you know. Sentimental value and all that.]
Tags: Test
Posted in Off-Topic | No Comments »
