DM-AlternateEnd
Map Info
	File Name dm-alternateend.zip Author pseudosafari Gametype UT2k4 Deathmatch Date Added 03-13-2006 File Version 1.00 File Size 12.51 mb Player Count 2 - 6 Map Description A medium sized deathmatch area set in the bowels of a fallen Skaarj cruiser on the surface of Na Pali. I used 100% custom meshes for this and it is my attempt to bring the feel of the original Unreal to Ut2k4. Any comments you can offer would be great! (If map frame rate drops try turning down your world detail) Review Rating 4 User Rating 6.5 Overall Rating 5.0
Review
Reviewer Ironblayde Awe Score:  1.5/3 Date 04-08-2006 Build Score:  1.5/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  1.0/3 User Point:  +1 Overall Score:  5.0/10 AWE: 1.5 Well, here's a novelty! Anyone who enjoyed the Skaarj theme from the early days of Unreal will want to check this one out. In DM-AlternateEnd, author Pseudosafari set out to bring that old theme to UT2004. Rather than crafting a BSP-based level as one would expect to see for UT99, the author has fashioned a considerable number of static meshes that use the Skaarj textures. And it works, too. There's a lot going on in those textures, and that quality makes them unusually well suited to skinning meshes. In fact, it seems such a natural use for that texture set that I'm surprised I haven't seen it attempted before. I've always liked the Skaarj theme, and it's cool to see it brought up to date a bit. Although the individual meshes themselves are quite interesting, I wasn't always happy with the construction of the map in general. Sometimes a mesh placed at an angle will run awkwardly into another one, or into a BSP surface, so that one piece of the architecture is buried inside another, which is never pretty. In other places, one style of wall gives way to another, or to a corridor, too abruptly. Without some sort of trim to ease the transition, it ends up looking sloppy. It seems as if the author didn't give quite enough thought as to how the various meshes would connect to one another, or to the BSP that forms the skeleton of the map. The strangest part of the architecture, though, is the terrain. Terrain, in a Skaarj map? Yep, in one room there's a big, bloated mass of grass and dirt sitting on the floor. It's strikingly incongruous, even though the map is set underground -– look straight above you and you'll see an opening into a cavernous area with a white sky above. And then there's the lighting, which is unfortunately rather poor. It's dim, which is understandable in an underground abode of the Skaarj, but that doesn't excuse having some surfaces appear entirely unlit. It's uninteresting, lacking any nice shadow formations or other interesting effects. And it's inconsistent. Usually the lighting is sourced, but sometimes you won't be sure where it's coming from. Sometimes you'll be walking down a corridor and note that the lighting changes colors or intensities despite the lack of a change in light fixtures that would explain such differences. BUILD: 1.5 Delving into the technical side of the map, there are some strange things to be seen. First, the map is zoned correctly and runs just fine, largely due to the fact that there's not much graphical detail on the screen at any given time. But a lot of the construction is pretty shoddy. A lot of the brushwork is off the grid, and that weird bit of terrain in one room is actually part of a gigantic terrain sheet; less than one percent of it is actually visible! Most of the invisible stuff isn't textured at all so this doesn't matter much if at all, but it's very strange. The bot pathing is rather poor. Bots don't know how to operate the doors, as there aren't any paths that pass through them. They also get confused on the lifts, because the author hasn't properly set the LiftTag on any of the lift pathing actors. In fact, he's lift the LiftTag set to None on all of them, so there are paths running from one lift's LiftCenter over to LiftExits clear across the map which are supposed to belong to a different lift. Finally, the bots can't reach the Super Shield Pack. Admittedly, the placement of that pickup is rather odd (you have to activate a bridge in order to reach it) so pathing it would not be straightforward, but it's definitely possible. The various movers all work more or less as intended, which is certainly good, though I would have preferred a few differences. Automatically opening doors operate better in the TriggerControl state than they do in TriggerOpenTimed, since that way they'll never close on a player, and never require that a player walk away from them to re-trigger them. Also, reactivating the lift in the control room can be annoying. If you're on the lift when it closes, jumping on it doesn't reactivate it as it does most lifts, and typically you'll trigger it again as you're exiting, so the lift goes back up without you. I really have to wonder if the author fully understands how the triggering mechanism in UT2004 works. Each mover has numerous triggers associated with it, and in addition to triggering the mover, the triggers also trigger each other. LiftExits and LiftCenters also get triggered. This doesn't actually have an effect since those actors don't respond to being triggered, but I still have to wonder why this was done. Hopefully it's a mistake and the author realizes that this is not the way to set these things up. Sooner or later techniques like these will lead to unintended consequences in a future map. I'm not going to be too harsh with the score in this section because many of these oversights don't hinder the map's functioning too much, but the author has a lot to learn here before he tackles anything more complex. CAST: 1.0 Sadly, this map is simply not fun to play. To begin with, the layout is horribly dull. It's very nearly symmetrical about both the x- and y-axes, so there's almost no variety to be found. The map basically consists of two roughly semicircular rooms joined by a network of corridors that are far too narrow. To make matters worse, there's a plethora of little protrusions and edges to get stuck on, and the author has provided BlockingVolumes for almost none of them. There are a few of them in the map, so it seems like the author knows that BlockingVolumes are typically used to allow players to traverse a map more smoothly. Why, then, has he neglected to use them in so many critical places? It's almost as though the map were released before it could be finished. Getting snagged on the architecture isn't the only thing you'll have to worry about, either. There are inconveniently placed holes in the floors of some of the hallways, and the uppermost one is covered with a non-colliding mesh that obscures the hole's true extent. That blob of terrain has some angles near the top that are too steep to climb without jumping, so it makes a poor ramp. And there are a few other places in the map where it looks like you should be able to walk over something, but you'll get stuck if you try. The weapon distribution isn't too bad, though I thought the placement of ammo packs was a bit irritating, as it's never near the corresponding weapon. Of course, maybe keeping ammo away from me in this map was a good idea, since I usually ended up spamming it down one of those terribly confining corridors anyway. I've certainly played a lot worse than this, so if you really like the Skaarj theme, or are one of those monsters who likes spammy maps, you might still enjoy it. But I've played a lot better, too. FINAL SCORE: 4.0 This map definitely had promise, and the mapper does gets points for creativity. The attempt to bring the old Skaarj textures into the world of static meshes was an admirable one, but unfortunately the map doesn't have much else going for it. Bad lighting and imprecise construction mar the whole, and the gameplay falls flat. Perhaps once the author has learned a bit more about layout design and using the editor, we'll get a Skaarj map for UT2004 that's fun to play. This one doesn't cut it.
Map Comments
pseudosafari 04-08-2006 12:28 PM MDT   If you find something in the map that you really enjoyed or wasn't to your liking please comment! ^.^ Thanks for the feedback Oldman. I'll add a few extra rooms and perhaps give the trigger bridge 20 seconds or so delay before it disappears so players can access it more easily. I had intended it to be a real challenge to get to it, involving dodge jumping etc but I think like you said it'd probably be better if players could access it during play. Expect the altered map under a similar name within a couple of weeks. EDIT: Thanks a lot for taking the time to review my map Ironblayde I appreciate it. Triggers are something I still don't fully understand but bearing the gameplay issues and grid usage in mind the next map will hopefully be quite a bit better. OLDMAN(CO30) 03-16-2006 02:07 PM MST Rating: 6.5   I liked the dark feel of the map it fits the setting, and the bridge idea different, but in play hard for the trigger player to get to use the walkway. I wish it was bigger for 10 players then I would have tried it on are server, but in it current size just to small we always have 10 playing. If you were to do an update with a few more rooms {hint} I would have no problem tring it on the server. I look for "different" maps just to mix up the server for all players. UPDATE Great I be waiting, as I said I look for different maps for the server just to mix it up, the feel and setting works. Manticore 03-28-2006 03:36 AM MST Rating: 6.5   The use of the Unreal deco was well done but the gameplay wasn't much above average. Player load could possibly have been higher........ Turns2Ashes 03-29-2006 01:04 AM MST   Looks cool but I didn't like the gameplay at all. Played half a game and then deleted. D: Ironblayde 04-08-2006 03:04 PM MDT   pseudosafari: You're welcome. It was an interesting map even if the gameplay didn't work out so well. If you have any trouble figuring out triggers and such, come visit us on the level design forums here at NC, or at UnrealPlayground. :)