Vergil's Downfall!

Check out the DmC DLC, which focuses on Vergil's Downfall!!

DmC Combos!

Designing my first multiplayer map! Stepping Stones

I thought it would be a good idea to keep a blog post on my progress through the different stages of designing my first multiplayer map.

So you can get an idea of my creative thinking processes during modification. As this is a big project for me, I feel that recording my progress is important and might be beneficial to others who are also using UDK for the first time.

I'm not going to delve too far into the nitty gritty of what I did, but if anyone wants to know anything about the things I've shown in my level, please don't hesitate to contact me :)

This image was appropriately named "the beginning" and in many respects it was!

Following some online tutorials, I managed to get a basic understanding of BSP brushes (Binary

space partition) basically brushes that allow you to create/sculpture objects inside the game world. So I created a small room, ta daa! with some basic lighting!

After fiddling around inside Unreal, I managed to get a HUD working as well as a gun!
Tip:Selecting the view>world properties>game type allows you to change the game type, selecting utgame as the default game type allows you to implement basic shooter properties inside your game.
Oh and I made a spiral stair case inside a tubular shaped room. For some reason I was fixated in creating the perfect spiral stair case.

Spiral stair case getting higher!

 

Another view!

 

I went a bit crazy and started adding lots of platforms....I thought it looked cool!!

 Another angle. As you can see I've placed many light sources into the level to allow more light coverage. I also added jump pads to each platform to get an understanding of how they work.

At this point I started thinking about the structure of my level and how it will work as a multiplayer map. I wanted to create a multiple level map which players can traverse freely. This is where I came up with the concept of Stepping Stones.

Here's a birds eye view of my progress.

Present.

I hope you found my brief progress insightful or at least cool! I'll will be posting more images as I go, so feel free to check back frequently to see the next stages of evolution, in my quest to design a great multiplayer map! OR you could just skip back to it later to see the final outcome ;) 

I also will be video capturing the map in all its glory when I complete it so stay tuned for that.

UPDATE!!

Here is a sneak peak of my level in action, including AI controlled bots.  
Music by The Prodigy-Omen

DmC Comic-Con Trailer 2012!!

UFO sighting near my home town in London!

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Hands On!

I managed to get a 15 minute hands on with the game at the Eurogamer Expo, I must say that I'm very impressed with what I played. The controls seem very simple at first but as you delve further into the demo, its apparent that the combat has a lot of depth to it. I was playing the game on the Playstation 3 so the button layout was as follows:

L1: Precision attack
Triangle: Heavy attack
Square: Light attack
R1: Speed boost
Square + Direction: Parry
X: Jump

As you can see the button layout is quite simple, there are 3 forms of attack, triangle/square (which are the basic forms of attack) & precision attacks which uses L1 to activate. Attacks can vary depending on the direction of the analogue stick and also the use of combinations of both buttons in a combo. You can also perform aerial combos by jumping in the air and using the same attacks.

Precision mechanics can take some getting use to, as it can be quite disorientating when moving both analogue sticks in order to change angle and slice, but once you get the hang of it, you will be slicing and dicing cyborg ninjas like they were a watermelons!

The game still keeps the visual style of what you would expect from a MG game, with the game taking a very similar visual setting to MGS4.

The Demo takes place through a street location which you can decide to either stealth your way through or take on some of the cyborg ninjas/geckos which petrol the area.

The demo ends in a boss fight with the LQ-84i (Cyborg Dog with a chainsaw tail) The LQ-84i forces Raiden to use parrying and evading to counter its powerful fast attacks. After taking substantial damage the cyborg dog jumps onto a roof top and calls in back up.

This breaks up the encounter nicely and also gives the player an opportunity to regain some vital health that can easily be lost during the fight with the brutal cyborg canine. With each phase of the fight the LQ-84i becomes increasingly aggressive and can be quite a handful if not dealt with properly.

Just by playing 15 minutes of the demo, I can honestly say I'm a big fan! The amount of focus on the style and action is what you would expect from Platinum games, so for me this is a no-brainer. stay tuned for a full review when the game comes out early next year!

Some Holiday Pics!