Development of a Level - Boss 3

     I ran into some issues with the level being light from unknown sources. As a result the level is only lit from a single light in the middle of the arena at this point. However, Phobos is successfully in the level, as well as his animation sets. The pillars are also destructible, and will break when shot.

Development of a Level - Boss 2

    The boss arena is now fully textured at this point. A chandalier has also been added to give the player a sense of how the level is lit. A fog emitter was also added to prevent the player from looking over the edge and seeing that the ground is in fact missing.

Development of a Level - Boss 1

   This is the first stage of the boss battle with Phobos. It is a simple room with nothing but pillars. In the fight Phobos is suppose to destroy the pillars, causing the roof to collapse on his head.

Development of a Level - 28

 This is the level at the current, 28th stage of development. Since stage 23 I changed the colour of the light in the level to red, bathing everything in a reddish, fiery hue. The brain skybox was also added in, as well as the key the player needs to retrieve to advance to the boss battle. Finally, the majority of the level is lit by the lava. I enabled the glow emitter on the lava, causing it to light the entire level, instead of using static point lights.

Development of a Level - 23

  The level at stage 23. The lava has finally been added into the level. This was achieved by adding in a fluid surface actor, applying a fire material, and then changing the attributes of the fire material to achieve the current effect. The lava also has killboxes placed correctly beneath it, killing the player when they fall into the lava. When the killboxes were first added some of them were placed above the surface of the lava, replacing the lava with a blank square. The problem was solved when I lowered the killboxes.

Development of a Level - 17

  At stage 17 of the level Phobos' tower is added into the game. This is actually the second iteration of Phobos' tower, the first one was too complicated and would not import properly. A texture has been applied to the tower, however I still had to go into the material editor in order to scale down the texture size so as to appear more natural. I had also turned up the amount of fog at this point. A mistake I would soon fix as it was way to thick.

Development of a Level - 14

  The level at stage 14. It has again undergone serious changes. The level is now textured, as well as having a rough path that the player is supposed to follow painted onto the ground. The "fog" smoke emitters have also been removed as well and replaced with the real fog emitter from UDK. Far more efficient and much less of a resource hog.

Development of a Level - 12

   This is the 12th stage of the level, as is visible it has undergone serious alterations. The plateau has been altered and instead is now an active volcano, within which will rest Phobos' tower. The "fog" I was created earlier with smoke emitters as since been added to cover the entire level. This was very demanding of my system and caused serious lag of UDK, as well as long build times. I had also started to some dead tree static meshes from the content browser.

Development of a Level - 8

  This is the level as it looked at stage 8 of development. I added a skybox to help give me a sense of scale for the level, as well as providing some life to the level. I also added some smoke emitters in the crevices next to the plateau path, again to mark where lava will eventually be added into the level. The lighter smoke was created by several smoke emitters i placed low to the ground in order to create fog. This would later create problems.

Development of a Level - 5

  This is the 5th stage of the level. As you can see the plateau is much larger. As well, there is the beginnings of a path up the plateau in the front. The path is surrounded by crevices that would later include pools of lava. The mountain barrier around the outside is also more pronounced, further dissuading the player from leaving the map.

Development of a Level - 1

  This is the level as it was first created. It is very basic at this stage, consisting of a simple plateau for Phobos' tower, as well as a ring of mountains to prevent the player from wandering off the edges of the map.

Development of a Level

   This blog is a series of posts that chronicle the development of the level I created for our IASC 3F00 game, Skrik and the Synapse: A Crazy Cavort Through the Cranium, developed by Total Engine Concepts. The level is called "Fear" and is the final level in the game, as well as the home of the main antagonist Phobos, Skrik's father. The level was designed to be dark, haunting, and as the name suggests, invoke fear in the player. The level consists of one simple puzzle, to retrieve a key so the player can access Phobos' tower and confront him for a final showdown. 

   I also designed and built the level where the boss battle with Phobos takes place.