Thursday 7 November 2013

Computer Games Structures

Today in class I played some levels included in the UDK development engine to analyse them and their structures. Below is my report on the levels I played.

Map: Deck
UDK Map: Deck
Genre: FPS(First Person Shooter) - Mode: Deathmatch

Objective: Finish the level with the highest score to win the match
How are the Objective(s) Achieved?
The simplest form to answer this question is saying that you have to kill your enemies. But there is more to the game than that, since having better weapons will make it easier for you to kill them. Knowing the map and how to move across it will help you greatly and you can also collect health and armor boosts to increase them, giving you advantage in combat.

What are the edges/boundaries of the map and how are you kept enclosed? 
The map consists of a facility, so the boundaries are the walls and closed windows, so it is a clever way of keeping you inside the map.

When and how are the sounds activated?
Your weapons emits sounds when fired, when you swap it, the shots sound vary if you hit an enemy or an object, when you move your character you emit footstep sounds, when you fall and when you die. The game also has voices announcing the score, whenever someone achieves a high streak or announcing the time limit.
This level in particular has some water/acid in it, so whenever you enter/leaves or moves through water the correspondent sound effect is played.

Are there buildings for show or are they enterable or is it both?
The map is confined to a facility so there aren't any other buildings.

What movement does the character have?
Your character can move in any direction, jump and double jump and swim, when in water.

How does the AI work - at random? Responsive?
The AI is programmed to complete the objective. So in this map it's priority is to kill any targets that appear in its way, it works fine, but in some moments I have met an AI character and they wouldn't attack me for a few seconds, maybe that's because of the difficulty selected.

What is in the U.I./H.U.D.? 
The H.U.D. is composed of your health and armor meters, your ammo count, a minimap and a timer showing how much time is left in the game.

What is the terrain? Is it flat? Urban or Rural?
The scenario is futuristic urban, this particular level has different floors, so there is some verticality in the combat, giving advantage to whoever is on top.

Map - Simple Courtyard
UDK Map: Courtyard
Genre: FPS(First Person Shooter) - Mode: Deathmatch
Objective: Finish the level with the highest score to win the match
How are the Objective(s) Achieved?
The methods applied on the first map are the same for this.

What are the edges/boundaries of the map and how are you kept enclosed? 
The map extremely simple, as the name points, a circled arena enclosed by castle walls too high that you can't jump over.

When and how are the sounds activated?
Your weapons emits sounds when fired, when you swap it, the shots sound vary if you hit an enemy or an object, when you move your character you emit footstep sounds, when you fall and when you die. The game also has voices announcing the score, whenever someone achieves a high streak or announcing the time limit.

Are there buildings for show or are they enterable or is it both?
There are some towers that are shown behind the courtyard, but you can't even reach them.

What movement does the character have?
Your character can move in any direction, jump and double jump.

How does the AI work - at random? Responsive?
The AI is programmed to complete the objective. So in this map it's priority is to kill any targets that appear in its way, it works fine, but in some moments I have met an AI character and they wouldn't attack me for a few seconds, maybe that's because of the difficulty selected.

What is in the U.I./H.U.D.? 
The H.U.D. is composed of your health and armor meters, your ammo count, a minimap and a timer showing how much time is left in the game.

What is the terrain? Is it flat? Urban or Rural?
The scenario is medieval, probably in a castle, so urban. There is only one floor and all the action is limited to it.

Map - Necropolis
UDK Map: Necrepolis
Genre: FPS(First Person Shooter) - Mode: Capture the Flag
Objective: Capture the enemy team's flag and return it to your base.
How are the Objective(s) Achieved?
To capture a flag you simply walk over it, then you have to survive the way back to your base and reach your flag to score a point. Teamwork is extremely necessary in this mode in order to score points and win the match.

What are the edges/boundaries of the map and how are you kept enclosed? 
The Necropolis is a small citadel, so the boundaries are walls and windows. The windows have a barrier higher than your jump capability and you cannot jump them.

When and how are the sounds activated?
Your weapons emits sounds when fired, when you swap it, the shots sound vary if you hit an enemy or an object, when you move your character you emit footstep sounds, when you fall and when you die. The game also has voices announcing the score, whenever someone achieves a high streak or announcing the time limit.
This map contains two extra transport modes, a hoverboard which emits hovering sounds and a few vehicles that have engine, gun and explosion sounds.

Are there buildings for show or are they enterable or is it both?
There are some buildings that you can enter but they don't contain anything inside them. The rest of the buildings are on the background and cannot be reached.

What movement does the character have?
Your character can move in any direction, jump and double jump. When on a vehicle you can move backwards and forward and steer sideways. On the hoverboard you move forward, change directions and you can also jump.

How does the AI work - at random? Responsive?
The AI is programmed to complete the objective. So in this map it's priority is to capture the flag and kill any enemy that holds their flag, it works fine, but in some moments I have met an AI character and they wouldn't attack me for a few seconds, maybe that's because of the difficulty selected.

What is in the U.I./H.U.D.? 
The H.U.D. is composed of your health and armor meters, your ammo count, a minimap, a scoreboard showing both team's scores and a timer showing how much time is left in the game.

What is the terrain? Is it flat? Urban or Rural?
The scenario is a futuristic urban environment with a single passage on a higher level giving it a little bit of verticality.

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