UTMC - Jungle Gym
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UTMC - Jungle Gym
Of the 'Derelict Facility' set, Jungle Gym takes place on an automated ecological research center whose emphasis lies in terraformation. Centrally located, the airlock crown of geodesic Jungle Gym is both its atmospheric cork and final defensive measure against would-be archival theft. Now for wide-eyed ambition. Ecological research, and terraformation moreover, aren't only about balance but recovery after chaos. By opening its portal to the vacuum of space, Jungle Gym turns to a simulation of natural disaster. A hurricane of its own waterfalls churning white the escaping atmosphere.
I'm uncertain the technical difficulty of achieving this, but my idea for Jungle Gym was for this pressure leak to even affect gameplay. Gravity upon players decreasing as time elapses, the hurricane shifting through categories 1 to 5. Below were some basic ideas for how this might look/play:
Cat. 1: Gravity 100%. 1% - 20% game time. Clouds begin to accumulate.
Cat. 2: Gravity 90%. 21% - 40% game time. Leaves and rain effects.
Cat. 3: Gravity 80%. 41% - 60% game time. torches go out. Corpse ragdolls are pushed about the map.
Cat. 4: Gravity 70%. 61% - 80% game time. Bridges snap, posts and saplings torn up. Corpse ragdolls are pulled through the airlock.
Cat. 5: Gravity 60%. 81% - 100% game time. Tree canopy is torn up, revealing previously obscured hiding spots. Eye of storm darkens.
Finale: At the conclusion of a match, losing players in DM as well as teams in modes like TDM are sucked out living or dead, allowing the winners still standing, a few seconds of celebration.
further, associated with this decreasing gravity and increasing jump height is perhaps the best part of all, weapons procedurally 'unlocking' as the vortex gathers. As demonstrated in diagrams forthcoming, jumps built around specific gravity levels will keep players away from, say, the shock rifle until Cat. 3, but from the stinger until only Cat. 2. The ultimate: U Damage, available only passed the cat. 5 boundary, atop the maps heighest point.
Should I risk rocket jumping to that vantage point or wait 20 seconds for cat.4? Should I focus on defending the flag until more capture routes open up? Questions for a player to which Jungle Gym's novelty hopefully doesn't wear off.
And if none of that's possible, then by the vague aesthetics of a childhood playground might Jungle Gym capture the maniac bloodsport of instagibs, kill streak announcements, and three barreled rocket launchers iconic of the unreal series.
Calm before the storm:
Cat. 3:
Cat. 5:
Of the 'Derelict Facility' set, Jungle Gym takes place on an automated ecological research center whose emphasis lies in terraformation. Centrally located, the airlock crown of geodesic Jungle Gym is both its atmospheric cork and final defensive measure against would-be archival theft. Now for wide-eyed ambition. Ecological research, and terraformation moreover, aren't only about balance but recovery after chaos. By opening its portal to the vacuum of space, Jungle Gym turns to a simulation of natural disaster. A hurricane of its own waterfalls churning white the escaping atmosphere.
I'm uncertain the technical difficulty of achieving this, but my idea for Jungle Gym was for this pressure leak to even affect gameplay. Gravity upon players decreasing as time elapses, the hurricane shifting through categories 1 to 5. Below were some basic ideas for how this might look/play:
Cat. 1: Gravity 100%. 1% - 20% game time. Clouds begin to accumulate.
Cat. 2: Gravity 90%. 21% - 40% game time. Leaves and rain effects.
Cat. 3: Gravity 80%. 41% - 60% game time. torches go out. Corpse ragdolls are pushed about the map.
Cat. 4: Gravity 70%. 61% - 80% game time. Bridges snap, posts and saplings torn up. Corpse ragdolls are pulled through the airlock.
Cat. 5: Gravity 60%. 81% - 100% game time. Tree canopy is torn up, revealing previously obscured hiding spots. Eye of storm darkens.
Finale: At the conclusion of a match, losing players in DM as well as teams in modes like TDM are sucked out living or dead, allowing the winners still standing, a few seconds of celebration.
further, associated with this decreasing gravity and increasing jump height is perhaps the best part of all, weapons procedurally 'unlocking' as the vortex gathers. As demonstrated in diagrams forthcoming, jumps built around specific gravity levels will keep players away from, say, the shock rifle until Cat. 3, but from the stinger until only Cat. 2. The ultimate: U Damage, available only passed the cat. 5 boundary, atop the maps heighest point.
Should I risk rocket jumping to that vantage point or wait 20 seconds for cat.4? Should I focus on defending the flag until more capture routes open up? Questions for a player to which Jungle Gym's novelty hopefully doesn't wear off.
And if none of that's possible, then by the vague aesthetics of a childhood playground might Jungle Gym capture the maniac bloodsport of instagibs, kill streak announcements, and three barreled rocket launchers iconic of the unreal series.
Calm before the storm:
Cat. 3:
Cat. 5:
Replies
This Cage match cranked to 11, I would say this is a really hard to convey in a scene on what you want. I think you've explored your insane idea and categorizing it into gameplay mechanics enough, visually diagramming out what area's would be playable by the category of the storm is a step above in concepting.
What I'd like to see is a clearer visual on what I'm looking at for the main area (3d perspective wise and visual fidelity a bit more detail and less 2d-ish diagrams)
If painting isn't your forte you can explore different ideas on paths around this indoor jungle mountain. Maybe play with some architecture or maybe not. Typically UT maps have some sort of man made elements in the environment, like I could see some scaffolding walks that are more sturdy than the rope bridges that would get torn up. But it's a different sort of challenge to build something entirely natural (aside from the huge honeycomb structure that encases the dome)
On the topic of this giant structure which is basically a hellish greenhouse, the first thing that pops into my head for visuals when you're talking about indoor hurricanes is monsoon flooding as it gets worse people would be risking being over-taken by the rushing water. Maybe there's safehouses in the environment that are more permanent and fixed or tunnels that connect different parts of the map that go "underground" the main jungle.
Making it work as a UT environment is up to Epic but alternatively to your idea I could picture the cat system you established be put on a randomizer. As the cat changes, there's a blaring loudspeaker announcing the next cat giving players a little time to reposition and adjust to what's coming. This would re-open the map or close the map based on how bad it is instead of a linear from calm to hell it would force people to adopt tactics based on what the current cat is and what the next one coming up is.
Tocsin looks good on the perspective front so I'm pretty confident it's within your ability. Looking forward to your stuff as it progresses you certainly have the ideas and imagination of a madman already!
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][Note: The whole hurricane gimmick expanded upon in the W.I.P. is entirely optional][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif] There's a bit more grandiloquence going on in the W.I.P. thread, but what Jungle Gym is in basic is an automated ecological research facility, not quite derelict but undisturbed. Though built and maintained by researching humans, they only ever interact with Jungle Gym at its periphery, delicately gleaning information by the various bits of measuring equipment hidden throughout. An eye-contact-avoiding relationship like a zookeeper might have with the predators he looks after. But when seized as an arena for the unreal tournament, this precaution in a predators enclosure analogy becomes even stronger. Elaboration on ideas not captured in the more highly finished images can be found in the thumbnails following them.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]http://i.imgur.com/k6Qta04.jpg [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]http://i.imgur.com/Jm3O0Gb.png[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]http://i.imgur.com/bA4f6Qz.png[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]1. Measuring equipment failing to disguise itself as the branches and knots of a tree. Half garden half jungle.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]2. A whirring electrical box painted in camouflage to its surroundings. Power supply to the cloud positioning fans behind it. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]3. Air vents between the stalactite ceiling of a cave.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]4. Contrived rock formations too ideal to occur naturally such as those seen in polar [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]bear enclosures and fish tanks alike. [/FONT]