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Team: Trebuchet Games
Duration: 2.5 months
Engine: Unreal 2.0 (Unreal Tournament 2004)
Team: 9 students (2 programmers, 3 artists, 4 level designers)
My Responsibilities: Game Co-Designer, Marketing Lead, Level Designer, Sound Designer
Dark Territory was the second project I worked on at the Guildhall. It's a medieval warfare multiplayer mod for Unreal Tournament 2004. In the game, players join either the Dragons (offense) or Griffins (defense) to battle over three control points. If the Dragons capture all three control points in the Griffins' base before time expires, they win. Otherwise, the Griffins win.
I designed one of the four levels in this game. My intention for the level was to be one huge battlefield, where brave players would charge right into the fray while defenders could hide in trenches and snipers could position themselves on key positions. The atmosphere I was trying to create was very damp and foggy, where visibility was restricted by the "fog of war" and chaos would ensue. I built four detailed sections of the map: a wooded entry point with a river running through it, a smoldering village, a dense forest, and the battlefield itself.
Ultimately, I discovered through playtesting that the level played better as two separate levels, so I divided it into "Plight" and "Maelstrom." Because of the change, it was necessary to reassess where the control points should be placed in both maps, and a Griffin base was needed in the new level.
"Maelstrom" has the attackers starting near a dense forest and the defenders starting in their camp at the other end of a field. There are two trenches surrounding the defender's base, which can prove quite treacherous for unwary attackers (especially when they contain mines). In addition, the defenders have several positions at which they can snipe at the attackers, and several siege weapons as well.
"Plight" has the attackers starting near the smoldering village and the defenders starting in the wooded area across the river. Because the bridge is the only "easy" way to cross the river, it serves as an excellent choke point where brave attackers will try to run as fast as possible across it while heavy fire rains down upon them. The alternate route to the defender's camp is to fall into the river, which sweeps the player towards a death volume of rocks. If the player is quick (or lucky), they can manage to get to the right bank of the river and attempt to assault the defender's position from the west. Otherwise, it is quite easy to reach the left bank of the river, but this means a long climb back up to the bridge!
In addition to making these two levels, I also created all of the game's sound effects and the game's logos.
Here is a sample of the sound effects I created for Dark Territory:
For more information on Dark Territory, visit the official Web site at www.planetunreal.com/darkterritory
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