UNREAL TOURNAMENT

FR-Library is an Unreal Tournament Blitz community level made as an individual university project.

Multiplayer map

Level Designer

University Project

ABOUT FR-LIBRARY

FR-Library is an Unreal Tournament Blitz community level made as an individual university project.

BLITZ
Unreal Tournament is a first-person arena shooter and in Blitz players play 5v5. The objective for the attacking team is to deliver the flag onto the defending team’s base, or to exhaust the defending team’s lives within the 3-minute time limit. The defending team must prevent both in order to wind the round.

PROJECT ROLE

LEVEL DESIGNER

  • Conducting research into Unreal Tournament and the game mode Blitz.

  • Creating a blockout for a multiplayer Blitz map.

  • Creating a Level Design Document with design pillars, metrics and gameplay guidelines (based on conducted research).

  • Balancing gameplay based on playtesting

FINAL ITERATION

  • Each area has a minimum of 3 exit/entry points to offer player choice and to ensure easy lane changing.

  • Lighting and shadows, pick-ups, landmarks and decals are used to leash players.

  • Level is consistent with excisting Blitz maps in metrics, pick-ups and spatial layout (rally points, choke points and combat bowls).

  • Map has been iterated upon and balanced based on playtesting data. 

RESEARCH

Level Breakdown

  • Researching Unreal Tournament by playing it myself (get a feeling for the mechanics and metrics of the game).

  • Watching footage of pro players to see how they utilize the mechanics and playspaces.

  • Breaking down an existing Blitz map to understand the general flow. 

LEVEL PLANNING

Drawovers & References

  • Using photographic references  for inspiration (theme) and to help create a more believable space.

  • Drawing over photos and images to find key shapes and come up with gameplay moments

Level Proposal

  • Starting out the sketching process with a node map to ensure the rhythm of rally points, choke points, and combat bowls was consistent with the existing Blitz maps.

  • Sketching in sketch-up to get a feel of the 3D space and scale of the level early on in the development process.

  • Using photographic references  to help enforce the theme of the map. 

ITERATION

Drawovers 

Iteration GIFs 

  • Creating drawovers of to be iterated upon areas to try out different ideas before making changes in engine.

  • Iterations were made based on action points generated from playtesting and QA testing sessions with players from the UT Community. 

PLAYTESTING

  • Data was collected during playtests (by asking prepared questions and by noting down observations) which was then used to generate action points from.

  • A heatmap tool was used to gather additional data which was used to improve and balance flow, gameplay and pick-up placement. 

LEVEL DESIGN DOCUMENT

  • Creating a level design document for the first time, including information about the design pillars, gameplay guidelines and metrics (based on research).

  • Breaking down the final iteration of the blockout.

  • Showcasing the use of photographic references.