LADY'S GAME CHOW

Level designs by Sector.

SECTOR 1

- I imported all my static meshes into my scene as I believed it would be easier to complete the kismet with the objects there, particularly kismet sequences that involved fractured meshes as I needed to know how many chunks to generate in my scene.

Placing the objects in my scene took longer than expected and therefore put me back a few days in terms of the time I had set out for my level design. However, when completed I found it easier to complete my Kismet ideas because I could actually see what the level would feel like and what the player would experience when they were playing it.

Objects all in level!

- I finished the first sector’s level design in my level. This included the player destroying 3 lots of servers to open a door, moving platforms to traverse, and a Kactor to shoot to lower a bridge. This was great practice for me as I finally got my head around using bools and particularly the compare bool node. This was helpful as I used this throughout the rest of my level

While completing this part of the level I discovered a problem that would cause headaches in other parts of the level. When making a Matinee with a camera, it would look great while previewing in Matinee, but on quitting and running in game, the camera positions would move. I googled it and couldn’t find answers, so I thought it might be that I had the ‘eye’icon selected. It turned out in the end I had to change the settings on my movement track from ‘relative to inital’ to world frame, which solved the problem.

SECTOR 2

- I had already started work on Sector 2 before hand, making a system where the player must use key cards to override the system and blow up the core, which then opens the elevator. I worked on fracturing the static meshes, however I came across a problem where I had not done the collision right, and this took me a while to fix. In the end I got it working and also learned how to play a sound when the core exploded, which I hadn’t thought about in my initial design. I also made the keycard pickups rotate, which looked better than them just being static on the floor.

These cores explode when the player places two key cards, which then gives them access to sector 3

6^th April.

- I worked on the AI system for Sector 2. I came across a problem where the AI would fight eachother, which was really frustrating, but after some fighting I got them to play nicely. I also discovered placing pickups, like a rocket launcher, which added a bit of excitement when playing the level. I had never used pick ups before so it was a good thing to learn.

The bot guilty of killing his Brethren and causing me a day of confusion. Pictured with his rocket launcher pickup.

- The kismet set up for my AI. This is a great set up I found on a youtube video. Its really simple and easy to remember. I looked elsewhere to find out about paths, so that my bot could patrol his corridor and cause the player more hassle!

On this day, I was also concerned about the length of my level. I decided, using the stop watch on my ipod, to test how long the first two sectors were so far. Along with dying multiple times, I discovered that the first sector came to about 1 minute 30 seconds, and Sector 2 lasted about 2 minutes and 9 seconds. I was pleased with this and was glad I took the time to test it.

With just the bots and the keycard system in Sector 2, I decided to add some extra things and incorporate the steam obstacle that was in my level design. I made a ditch which the player had to jump over filled with electricity, which caused pain using a dynamic physic volume. I added a pipe with pain causing steam, which the player could only turn off by finding a button elsewhere in the level.

The electricity obstacle.

Kismet for the pipe. The matinee opens the door into the next area and shows the player the next AI bot they must defeat.

SECTOR 3

- I started work on Sector 3. I wanted a new obstacle for my level that wasn’t in my level design, as I thought the level may get a bit repetitive. As the level is meant to be set in a solar powered factory, I thought of a obstacle where solar powered broken lights block the players path and turn on and off at intervals. The kismet took me a while to get right but in the end it was a fun and difficult task for the player.

Kismet sequence for light obstacle. A toggle turns on the row of lights and pain causing dynamic physics volume, then when the sequence ends, it is reversed.

The next puzzle for Sector 3 is where the player must move 3 nodes in the correct order to open the elevator. Here I used the compare bool function I had learned earlier. The player had to move the nodes in the right order or they would get a warning saying the other nodes were not connected.

Kismet for the node puzzle

I thought the level lacked something, and checking over my designs I saw that I had incorporated a moving platform puzzle. I livened this up a bit by allowing the platforms to move vertically as well as horizontally, and was very challenging to traverse! It was hard to get the platforms to meet up properly to allow the player to cross, but it worked in the end and was fun. Its probably best to see this in action on the video!

Matinee tracks below show using the magnet snap to a second helped me organise the platforms meeting each other.

SECTOR 4

Sector 4, being the last, had to go out with a bang. Setting up the ‘core’ which the player would need to blow up was great. Originally in my designs, the player had to press two buttons,; each would make a door slide away to reveal a bomb. However I believed there was no challenge in this and therefore wanted to make it so the player had to press 2 buttons within 10 seconds of each other to open a door, behind which would be the bomb which the player then could use to blow up the core, destroying the facility and meaning they could escape.

While sorting out the kismet to carry thing house, I couldn’t figure out how to make it so that if the player did not press the two buttons within 10 seconds of eachother, the first button returned to its ‘untouched’ faze and the player had to press it again. With some help from Pete, I understood using a 10 second delay and then a toggle meant this was possible.

I also used something I learned in the first part of this module, and employed the nice lady from the UDK packages to do the voice countdown for me!

Above and below show the kismet set up for the button press. The play announcement nodes play the countdown and the matinee opens the door.

Below shows the kismet for the player placing he bomb. It plays a five second countdown (with a 5 second delay) then plays a sound of the explosion. The toggles turn on radial impulse actors and a matinee, which has two cameras, one for each explosion. The player is then told it is time to escape!

My original plan for one of the 3 corridors on route to escaping the Aquasol Factory was to have an AI at the end of the corridor, with either Solar Beams causing harm to the player, or steam pipes like earlier in the level. I decided to change this, as again, it was too repetitive and I wanted to try out something different with Kismet. I decided I would keep the static AI at the bottom of the corridor, but place some of the gas canisters I had built in the way.

I thought making these canisters explode and hurt the player if they were shot by either the Ai or otherwise would add some kind of excitement and keep the player on their toes. I wanted to evoke that feeling of when a player finds something challenging but knows they can do it if they keep trying.

Blowing up the canisters was trickier than I thought it would be. After setting up all the radial impulses, the emitters and the sound nodes, I was confused when I tested it. It seemed on contact with a bullet, the canister would completely disappear. After a half hours thought, I realised the radial impulse actors were too big and were blowing the canisters to smithereens. I also found it hard placing all the canisters. It was difficult to place them strategically enough so that they could be shot by the AI, without blocking the AI’s view of the player altogether.

The Kismet for blowing up the Canisters. I used a ‘K-Actor – Take Damage’ with the Damage Threshold at 10 or under. The output leads to a play sound node, playing the sound of the explosion.

The final part of the level was used for something completely different. To keep the player on their toes, I decided the make the next corridors floor tiles rotate it order, meaning the player dropped to their death if they didn’t time it correctly. It was difficult to make this Matinee, as I encountered some problems with the rotation. Rotations more than 90 degrees made it turn the opposite way, but I fixed it in the end.

Below is a view of how the tiles turn, and the matinee sequence which controls it.

Biggest Problems:

- Problems with the camera reset in Matinee, that was only fixed by changing the version of UDK I was using.

- Problems with the fracture tool after not using the correct collision.

- CHECKPOINTS. I had a big problem working out checkpoints. It wasn’t until later than I figured rebuilding the paths helped.

Camera Setup

With AquaSol being a top down level, I had a very hard time setting up the camera. At first, I used the below kismet sequence, however this had severe draw backs in that the players gun pointed towards the floor while playing. After this, I tried to use a script for the game, however I was not happy with the fact that it was totally 90 degrees facing downwards, and I wanted something which angled forwards. In the end, I had to compromise, using the script set up for the gameplay video, and then making a fly through of the level in order for the viewer to get the full experience of the art in the level.