Gears S.A.S. part 1: January Update 2

So I'm not exactly where I wanted to be at this time in my Gears project but I thought I'd do a quick update regardless.  I have set up most of the coverlinks on the vehicles/sandbags placed within the environment and I'm still refining the placement of them during the later stages of the level.

I've got about half of the enemy spawn points in an triggering and now that I have got to grips with the simple spawning I'd like to get the emergence hole spawns in.  As I have a busy month ahead of me I now want to try and get this all blocked out by the end of February.  This may require a few long evening and weekend stretches but it will all be worth it once its in and blocked out.  The sooner I can get that done the faster I can get some playtesters in on the fun.

Here's a WIP video of my progress so far.   Apart from my abysmal encounter with the wretches I think this video shows good progress.  Any comments are appreciated!
  

Gears S.A.S. part 1 Level Update

Right, so largely what I've been doing with this project so far is blocking in the basic layout of the environment.  Making sure the scale is correct is highly important to me in this level as I thought my UT3 map was scaled completely wrong.  I've also been sorting the flow through the map, placing pickups and learning how to set up cover points behind cover objects so I can start having a play through soon.   Cover has been placed very loosely at the moment so I have to make sure I do not overload or place too little cover objects.

I'll stick up some WIP images soon as I say, I hope I have finished refining the layout of the buildings so it should only be the pickups, cover points and AI to place and script.

Needless to say I think my ambition of completing this part of the project to a functional stage will not be possible by the end of the month.  I am now aiming for the end of February.

EDIT:  On the plus side I am really pushing getting through a number of my 360 games.  Gears 2 and Batman Arkham Asylum started last weekend!

Gears of War 1 completed!

I completed Gears 1 over the weekend and I have to say that I am now more informed about how to layout my buildings and flow through an environment and I know first hand how difficult each enemy type will be.
So before I complete blocking out my level in the editor I think it's sensible that I review my initial layout and see if it will still fit in well with the game now that I have a better idea of the flow through levels.


Also, because of the time limit (and the fact that the image I wanted to use in the WoLD contest was more suited to a Source map) I decided not to enter.  Instead I would like to try and get this Gears level fully blocked out with the main gameplay features by the end of the month.  If I can do this then it will keep me well on track to my 6 games in a year target.

New Year, new projects!

So I've just arrived back from London and was going to jump straight into finishing blocking out my Gears level when I noticed the the World of Level Design are having another contest.  I feel compelled to enter this one too as its going to stretch me again to not only working to a deadline but this is split into two parts so that I focus firstly on the gameplay mechanics and then the visuals.  And, by February I should have a fully complete game level.  I guess I'll have to see if the amount of time I can put in will be enough to participate.

So over the latter part of last year I did manage to play more games.  Not as much as I'd liked to as I still have over 25 360 games to play but I did finish Fable 3, have played quite a bit of Mass Effect 2 and have nearly finished the co-op campaign of Splinter Cell Conviction (I have to say I am quite enjoying even though it has been irritating at times).  This year I want to get through a good number of my 25 games that are catching dust.


I created two Unreal projects last year which was great but this year I want to create 6 games, levels or maps using either UDK, Gears' Editor or UT3's Editor. 

Hopefully I haven't set my targets too high.  Should be an eventful year.