P4, DM-Fractal

Players / 2 – 4
Released / 10-03-2024
Version / 1.2
Download / On demand only, read further below how to get the file
Checksum / df89de49d8efec8c56b47e2e3479e663

Story / Histoire

Journey to Oblevia, Part 4. LMC’s public polls found that the majority of tournament viewers enjoy fighting in ‘real’ locations. This converted plasma reactor is an example. Fighters should be careful, as the plasma energy beams can strike the player traveling through the Fractal portal.

Voyage vers Oblévia, quatrième partie. Les sondages publics de LMC ont révélé que la majorité des téléspectateurs du tournoi apprécient les combats dans des lieux ‘réels’. Ce réacteur à plasma reconverti en est un exemple. Les combattants doivent faire attention, car les faisceaux d’énergie plasma peuvent foudroyer le joueur qui voyage via le portail Fractal.

A little video that shows the environment and how to avoid the deadly rays

Enjoy this 4 mins TDM match!

Installation

Put the files into

Local Drive:\Users\YourUsername\Documents\UnrealTournament\Saved\Paks\DownloadedPaks or
Local Drive:\UT4\UnrealTournament\UnrealTournament\Content\Paks

If this directory is not currently on your system, you can safely create it.

Details

The fourth part of my Journey to Oblevia project is DM-Fractal. I always liked the simplicity and playability of this level, in duel or 2 vs. 2 in TDM.

Gameplay wise, it’s like the original except that it is a bit more spacious. The floor under the Shield Belt is made up of 4 moving parts that open and close in 4 opposite directions. At first glance, the floor mechanism seems easy to recreate except that it requires Blueprint knowledge, knowledge which I do not have. Luckily, I received valuable help from Nick Burns who was able to show me how to do it and as a result, I succeeded! 😀

On the lower floor, there are 4 square switches on the floor. When one of these is projectile activated, the floor beneath the Shield Belt opens and anyone who falls through is teleported to the top of the play area and can be kill by the plasma reactor’s rays as they fall. It is possible to avoid being struck by the rays by skillfully maneuvering between them 😉

Another aspect of the level that I didn’t know how to reproduce is the real-time capturing of the fights in the center area which is projected under the floor of the Shield Belt. I managed to recreate this mechanism too using online tutorials 🙂 Another important point, the default teleporter was not adequate and I had to create a custom one. A huge thank you to Narayana who was able to help me with the teleportation mechanism.

For this level, I’m reusing DM-Fondation and DM-FonDuality assets. The lighting is very different from those previous levels.

The level feature the awesome music track “Mechanism Eight (UT99 redux)” by Necto Ulin coming from his Unreal Tournament 99 remixes album.

Note, for all my levels I use Temporal AA since it offers the best visuals.

How to get the file?

If you want to play this level, let me know by going to my About page, then you can email me. I will get back to you as soon as possible and provide you with a download link where all my levels and readme are. You can also go to my FB page and ask me privately 🙂

5 comments

  4. I had great time playing this map. It’s small and fast. Very pretty as well. Hairball for dm with probably more than 4, but I’m good with that!

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  5. Another great-looking map from Steve, small and fun for two to three players, with four being the maximum before it gets too frenetic.

    Since the disappearing floor is the main feature of the map, it was nice reading how he overcame the difficulties of creating the floor mechanism, the view through it, and the custom teleporter. We as players may not often think about how much effort it takes to end up with the final product, but we appreciate that it looks good and plays well.

    Some points of interest for the central floor area:
    – As mentioned, a hit directly on the Portal Switch by any weapon will open it. Perhaps not quite as obvious is that there is a subtle sensitivity to the ramp surrounding the switch. The floor will also open if ANY portion of the four ramps leading up to the shield belt is hit with a rocket. A shock core (alt-fire) can also open it without a direct hit to the switch, but its target area is smaller than the full width and length of the ramp.
    – A shock combo will only activate the floor if the explosion’s area of effect hits the Portal Switch directly. However, there is usually a good chance of this happening inadvertently (or intentionally) during battle, so be aware of your surroundings if you are close to this area.
    – Dodging over the opening is a safe way to get the shield belt during gameplay without the risk of falling through.

    On the upper level, a rocket down either of the corridors to the lift is often good for a surprise kill on an unsuspecting player coming up.

    All in all, an enjoyable map for a quick and frenzied free-for-all match.

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