Tempe Games

 Yo! Today I want to share a super useful trick I found out about recently. As you may know, if you've gone through even just one of my blog posts, I tend to use Blender to block out my levels and import those into Unreal. It's very quick, and I'm super used to the program, so it lets me iterate on level ideas extremely quickly. As it turns out, you can also use Blender to make quick, ultra-accurate Top-Down maps. Top down maps usually take a TON of time, especially if you want 'em to be good. It's one of the most arduous parts of level design, in my opinion, and that's saying something! This job is time-consuming as is! So, the good news is, Blender can help! Now, this mostly works with levels made in Blender, or Maya, theoretically, because they need to be meshes . In theory, you can get stuff modelled in Unreal exported as an FBX, which can then be imported into Blender, no problem, but if you have a ton of models and a landscape, I'm not entirely sure ho...

 Yo! While I was at GDC, I helped a fellow FIEAn, Mr. Elon Grant, make a map for their Tech Design project, Ruiner's Arena. Working on a level for a work-in-progress game is always fun, but you've got to be quick willing to iterate. Fortunately for me, rapid-iteration is my middle name! In our San Francisco Hotel, Me and Elon worked through some details for the map. Ruiner's Arena is a first-person hero shooter with a focus on comboing abilities together. There were some notable details for the level I needed to keep in mind- Firstly, all the heroes had, by default, a wall-run and a wall-climb, so gaining elevation would not be a problem for anyone. At the same time, high-mobility was expected, but cover was crucial.  Although there were future plans to build a unique gamemode, we started with simple deathmatch. In order to get something usable for testing quick, I built the level in Blender (as I tend to do) and sent it off. Here's what the first draft looked like. We ...