AS-Thrust2
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by Tynan Sylvester tynan(at)planetunreal.com
August 2004
Installation and Hard Data
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-Place AS-Thrust2.ut2 in your /UT2004/Maps folder
The next two files were in the original AS-Thrust release and may not be in your AS-Thrust2.zip
file. If you have the original AS-Thrust you may have downloaded a version of Thrust2 with only
the map file.
-If you have the file, place Ty_RocketSmeshes.usx in your /UT2004/StaticMeshes folder
-If you have the file, place Ty_RocketTextures.utx into your /UT2004/Textures folder
Gametype: Assault
Recommended
No. of Players: 6-16
Time Frame in
Production: Circa February 20, 2004 to May 18, 2004
Reworked August 1, 2004 to August 20, 2004
Number of
Internal Versions: About 48 for original version
About 30 more for version 2
Other works by
Author: DM-Lightfalls / DM-Nightfalls
DOM-Aphrodite
Elemental Conflict mod coding, modeling, art, design
Commentary
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This is a new, improved, reworked version of AS-Thrust. I've spiced up the looks, optimized,
added some destroyable objectives, added sound effects and emitters, balanced the level,
and exhaustively tested through different bot configurations to find the best one. It's been a
long and arduous process, so please enjoy the level.
This level was reworked for the Make Something Unreal Contest.
The VehiclePathName Tradeoff
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Making bots work with Assault levels is very difficult. They're not very flexibly coded in
some respects, especially when working with vehicles. I was faced with an interesting
tradeoff when designing this map. My choice was whether or not to set the vehicle
destination for the last objective. If I did this, bots who had vehicles left over would act
properly and drive to the garage. The problem was that they went all haywire from there.
They are coded with a strange priority set that has them frequently turn around halfway to
the objective in order to run back and heal their vehicles and get in and out a few times.
My alternative was to not set the vehicle path, which avoided this problem. However, this
meant that any bots in vehicles would then run into a bug where they just drove in little
circles or sat in place.
I went back and forth several times between these two settings. Finally, I chose not to set
the bot path because having the bots turn around halfway to their objective was unacceptable
and it happened too often. If a few bots have to run circles in their scorpions like drunken
hooligans, so be it.
The Teleporter Camper
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A few tests after I first placed in the teleporter running to the main base to be used on
the last objective run, I realized there was a problem with using it as the primary method of
transport. I could simply take the defenders' Raptor, place it on top of the teleporter destination,
and chill. Bots would come through the teleporter and be in contact with the Raptor.
The Raptor always won.
Though the "gore fountain" this produced was amusing for a time, I understood that this would
be a problem with real gameplay, so I had to place a cage over the teleporter destination to protect
incoming teleportees.
The next problem was that I figured out that I could sit there with my shield gun at full charge and
anyone who came through the teleporter would be in contact with the shield gun.
The shield gun always won.
I thought long and hard about ways to change this, and finally decided to do nothing. The problem
can be solved by the attacking team simply by assigning a sniper to keep the teleporter zone clear
along with covering the rest of the base. Some would regard the situation as still exploitable, but
I think that this sort of situation encourages teamplay in a healthy way.
And hey, the original CTF-Face had this same problem. Most popular CTF map ever.
Original Commentary
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Some commentary from the original version of this level:
Lighting
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I, personally, believe that too many Unreal maps are dark and dirty. It seems rare that
one will see a map that appears to have a beauty beyond technical excellence of the
designer. Complex, moody industrial scenes are fine up to a point, but eventually, I
always find myself hankering for something with a little more life. I've chosen to do
a sunset scene in this level, and I like to think it worked out well. In fact, it had better
have worked out well since I imported and compressed that sky more than ten times
before it looked right. Don't even ask me about getting the water surface to blend in
with the background.
I had fun with the point lighting on this one. Earlier versions didn't have any of the small,
blue point lights that appear in the final. Those were a last-minute inspiration which I feel
really "makes" the lighting in this map.
Idiotic Bots
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I spent a really long time wrestling with the bot AI trying to make it act with a marginal
level of intelligence. It seems that the bot code for assault doesn't scale so well when
greater numbers of vehicles are added to the mix. The only way to make the bots use the
vehicles to get to an objective is to associate a single point on space (pathnode) with that
objective to which they must drive and then get out and continue on foot. One of the more
amusing problems occurs when vehicles start piling up at that point. A Goliath tank will
be blocking the spot and a bot will cruise up in a buggy and start valiantly trying to push it
out of the way, all the while absorbing bullets and rockets from the defending team.
I never did acheive optimal performance from the bots, but I like to think that it's as good
as possible with the botcode provided.
Credits:
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Concept Art.............................................................................. Tynan Sylvester
Geometry................................................................................ Tynan Sylvester
Lighting................................................................................... Tynan Sylvester
Pathnoding.............................................................................. Tynan Sylvester
Textures.................................................................................. Tynan Sylvester
Technical Testing.................................................................... Tynan Sylvester
Sky Render.............................................................................. Tynan Sylvester
Music...................................................................................... Epic Games
This Preamble......................................................................... Tynan Sylvester
Second Opinions / Gameplay Testing.................................... The CBP Team
All contents of AS-Thrust2.ut2, Ty_RocketTextures.utx and Ty_RocketSmeshes.usx are copyright
Tynan Sylvester 2004. If you wish to host this file on the internet, you are free to do so, though
please mail me first at tynan(at)planetunreal.com. If you wish to change this map and re-release it,
please mail me first.
Zielbetrag
