Old School Unreal Contest - Michael Gmür

[genthly]

Hi all.
I'm starting late, and i have to make it quick, i'm sorry folks, but i just didn't have the time for it yet.
I'll try to post the dev process of this map as detailed and interresting as i can.
So this is the process of creating DM-Shrift. This is my second map, so indeed the creating-process was very chaotic, i learned a lot during those two and a half months.
In the beginning i was only thinking about a church with a nice garden around, located near a beach. First I didn't think to much about the layout, at that time the most important thing for me was good looks and the right feeling, a bright sky and a beautifull, sunny day.

When i'll get back from work i'll post a sketch of this map i made 2,5 months ago at work in some free time


-------EDIT--------

Some pics to compare how it looked on the second day and after finishing:





Ah and BTW that's the beta thread on Epic Forums

[genthly]

Ok, got the pics:

[freaky1]

Glad to see you made it over here with your map.GL man.

[genthly]

OK. after i came home i started creating. First thing was some terrain, a skydome, a medium health and a tree to get the right scale. After two hours i was done with the first BSP - a church, but... i didn't like it to much. I thought myself "whatever, let's save it" to go on tommorow and change some things. but the save did never finish. Appcrash...
It turned out that was the best that ever happened to this map. Next morning i started all over again. And the church was very similar to the one you can see in the final map.

[kgb]

Awesome bro. keep going. I like it, even at this early stage.

You think you can get it done by tomorrow night?

[genthly]

The worst phase - to start with anything - was over.

That was the moment i realized i need some layout, i thought much about what i can add there, maybe i'll make not only a garden around the church, but what else. It was late and i needed some sleep, but i could not stop thinking about it. then it came to me - a path between some trees leading up to the right side of the church. I thought it would be a nice thing to make the church tower a good sniping spot.

The same night i got back in the editor, made a hill on the terrain, pasted some trees on it, and then i got to what should be up there - a waterfall from a small mountain. so i made it.

[genthly]

Further on i deleted some trees added rocks, then a path to the left and to the right of the waterfall, both leading back to the church area. At this time i thought i was very close to the layout i wanted.

So i added some bot paths and player starts and a few pickups. It played quite good, at that time i didn't know how much this map will change to the final release.

[genthly]

Awesome bro. keep going. I like it, even at this early stage.

You think you can get it done by tomorrow night?

Hey the map's finished
But i have to write down the dev process. I'll just change it a bit today to make it 100% non-custom

[genthly]

In the meantime i was trying out some different sky/lights etc.
And got that effect:

Old:



New:

[genthly]

Some day i asked myself what if i'd enlarge it a bit? I thought i could add a passage on the left of the waterfall leading behind it. So i made it, I was adding passages more and more, until i had a nice cave area.
Ok, it was quite nice, but the visuals were not satisfying - rocks and more rocks. It was a hard time, i had no ideas, but then i deleted one more rock, and then i saw... the sea. A beatifull view - this greenish blue water from an angle i did not see before. Just had good luck This was IT. Exactly what i needed - not only a beautifull view, but a very good effect that made me feel like i was free, the closed caves changed to a nice way to another open area. Added some pickups and moutains in the back and :