Introduction
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Home | UT2004 Tutorials | Key Terms | Multiplayer DesignThis set of tutorials was originally intended for use in a book. As you read, you can replace the word "book" with "tutorial(s)."
This book should be treated as an introduction to mapping with Unreal 3.0, and nothing more. It is intended to give a guideline, some instruction as to how to start using UEd and how certain things work, as well as how to set up certain situations. This book should NOT be rushed through—the best way to learn the information presented here is to practice it, a little at a time. Start by making maps out of pure CSG. After you get the hang of that, maybe move on to some botpathing. If you get really creative, you can even try some emitters or jumpads and teleporters. Don’t move on to the truly difficult parts, like karma or exploding walls and Assault maps, before you’ve got the basics down like the back of your hand [that means *everything* in the Your First Level tutorial section]. Otherwise, as you’ll quickly learn, you will spend much valuable time getting nowhere.
As you begin your journey into level design, realize that it is going to be much more difficult than you anticipated at first. The learning curve is steep, but at a certain point everything just clicks and gets much easier. You'll still have problems, but you'll be able to work them out yourself. How long it will take you to get to this point varies widely depending on the amount of time you spend designing levels, your interest and commitment, and your ability to understand and retain instructions quickly. In the mean time, don't be intimidated by the large volume of material you need to learn to produce an acceptable map for UT. Further, don't expect to create something "good" until the third, fourth, or fifth try. If you keep working at it, you'll be amazed at how much you learn, and it's not unusual to get halfway through a map only to realize that you could have made it ten times better had you known when you started what you know halfway through.
Professional and amateur mappers usually take around 2-6 weeks building a high-quality map. You’ll find that as you start out, you may be spending as much as months working on a single project. Don’t worry until you start needing to count your build time in years—months of work on maps is normal. Once you understand better what you’re doing, and once you don’t have to look back at this book to remember how to texture your terrain—that’s when you’ll be able to get through a map in weeks instead of months.
In addition, it is highly recommended that you browse through professional maps, such as those included with the game, to see how they were made. Things will become clearer as you understand more about the engine—what those little apples mean, why there are purple boxes everywhere, why the blue and yellow boxes are aligned to the grid—and it will help you in your journey toward mastering the Unreal Engine. Also, take some time to look at some badly made maps, and notice how they’re too cramped, how the hallways are too long, how there are dead-ends or only two exits from a room. Notice the texture misalignments, and remember this as something to avoid in your own maps.
This book is also only a tool. As you learn from experimenting and looking at others’ work, your knowledge will (hopefully) exceed what is in this book until you are the one answering questions on forums online. You will develop a certain method of working, and things will fall into place before you even open UnrealEd. However, this book cannot cover everything, and there will likely be many situations where you will have to think and use logic to accomplish something not easily achieved. One of the goals of this book is to minimize those moments, but we can’t cover everything. (If you find something that you think should be included, email me.)
Also keep in mind that it will take a great deal of time and commitment to create anything that others will praise. There are 10,000 Unreal maps out there, and yours must stand out among them. This won’t happen by itself.
The best tip I can possibly give you is not to be hesitant in throwing parts, or all, of a map away no matter how long you've worked on it. There's a certain point where you just need to say "okay, I'm done, that's the best I can do," but if you build a map and realize there's a part of it that doesn't flow well, or if you build a map around a premise that doesn't really work, or if you build a map that builds your skills and once you're nearly finished you realize that no one's going to play the map but you're now capable of building a much better map that more people will like... move on. Throw it out.
And one more thing: originality is good, but only up to a point. There's a feeling among some in the Unreal community that there's not enough originality around, that mappers make maps that conform to a standard first set by Rankin because it's what the most vocal part of the community wants to see. Personally, I don't think that's true--I think it's a matter of skill, creativity, and what works best with the engine, but most of all it's that creatively original maps are rare. And they have to be, or they wouldn't be original. My advice to you is to be as original as possible without getting so over-the-top that it's no longer fun to play. At that point, it passes into the category of "gimmicky."
If you’re looking for employment in the industry, note that it is increasingly difficult to obtain any type of work due to the large number of applicants and small number of vocations. This means that, if you hope to get a job, your résumé will have to include many published works, preferably a professionally published title, and so you will have to work hard at your portfolio if you want to expand it enough to impress someone. Even professional mappers with several titles under their belt often go months without work, so don’t expect to jump right into the pool. At this point, just before the release of UT3, you'll likely have the most luck if you can quickly impress people building maps for the new engine. Building stuff for UT1 is good, but it's not going to get you noticed among developers in the community.
That being said, you can have a lot of fun with Unreal technology even if you’re not getting paid for it—so the best of luck, and get mapping!
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