UTMC - Hoarfrost

Rekkin

I'm not too great at introductions for this kind of stuff, so I'm just going to jump right into it.

My idea for this level is a smallish (2-6 players) deathmatch map, set inside an air pocket inside of a glacier. A big fissure at the top lets in light and some melting water and all that, while the players fight all along the interior.

I knocked out a quick overview a couple days ago:


And then made a rough model of the level in Blender, that I can use to paint over renders of.



I'm going to be getting some rough paintings done over renders I have from this in the next couple of days, but I just wanted to get my idea out there and collect some feedback.

Rekkin

I felt like the map was going to end up too small, so I revised the concept a bit and added a contrasting mechanical theme in the form of a small research outpost built into the side of the area, with more buildings far below as just scenery.



And a mockup of the platforms themselves:



I'm still trying to keep the scale somewhat small, but I wanted more options as far as scenery and paths, and I felt like this was an addition that fit my initial concept pretty well.

Rekkin

Added the platforms to the render so I can start doing real things.

Rekkin

Some progress on the first paintover.

Rekkin

A combination of a busy week at work and a bunch of thunderstorms knocking out power a couple times a day made for a pretty terrible art environment, but I've got another quick thing ready.


Opened it up a bit more, doing away with the air pocket idea, and just making it a big chunk of ice to give me some better options for the background and skybox. I'm still not entirely sure about what I'm putting on the platforms, but I still like the idea of them in general.

At this point I'm pretty married to the ice/glacier environment concept, since I always found Unreal/UT (2004 especially) to have some great outdoor levels, in addition to the general techy stuff. I'm mostly pulling from the CTF map Absolute Zero for the feel here, but I'm still not all the way on what sorts of tech addons seem right.

FirebornForm

Nice work man, the open ended version looks much better for an arena and I could totally see running around in this floating ice arena of death in UT

Rekkin

Thanks a bunch, I'm glad to get some feedback on this.

Smallish update on the previous painting before I head off for work; swapped out the platforms for a frozen-over bunker that will act as a small indoor area.

Rekkin

Two more things as a precursor to a few days off. First, touched up the background and colors of the ongoing painting. I'm pretty aware that I'm kind of (severely) lacking in the skill department compared to a bunch of other people here, but I don't want to spend too long trying to make one single picture look pretty and lose out on actually showing off other parts of the level. Which, incidentally, is what the second picture is of: a very very rough mockup of the interior of that bunker that I'll get to painting tomorrow.

Rekkin

So I went for an external shot of the bunker, and other than it being pretty plain right now I'm finally happy with that general area of the map. At this point though, I'm not sure if I should continue work on the interior of the bunker, or get one last shot of the glacier arena itself. Anyway:

Rekkin

Not going to have time to do another piece, so here're the final, full resolution shots.