Yes, a square cloud. The cloud effect is unfinished though. They will be more varied in the final version.

Uploaded another test version to the server, replacing the old one.

Download: DM-UTCRAFT-A10. There is now one more music file in the zip. I now have jukeboxes (brown blocks with a slot on top) set up throughout the level; press 'E' to change the song.

Other things to note:

I moved that island hill area closer to the main area of the map, and connected it to the level. However, the terrain is very blocky there. I don't plan on putting pickups on it; bots and monsters will have issues traversing it, and it will count as out-of-bounds for the anti-camper mutator. It was originally intended to be a background element that could be explored, it's still basically that, just closer to the main gameplay area.

Also, I trimmed down the "block" comprising the bottom of the village and forest as much as possible. The sides of the map are very square around the edges at the moment; the reason I trimmed it down is because I am in the process of creating a more "natural" border around the main gameplay area. I decided to upload this version while still in that process to get some feedback before "locking" in the edges.

I'm aware of a few minor issues like floating grass and platforms jutting out over the edges - results of the trim, I will fix them.

In terms of theme, this is based on a NPC village while playing survival mode. As such, I don't plan on adding the sort of huge structures or complicated mechanisms that you might make in creative mode. I've considered a nether portal (a teleport to another zone,) and I don't think it will work with this map, think of this as a new world where you are just now exploring the map and gathering weapons and resources. Also teleports mean telefrags, and monsters blocking the teleport and getting stuck. I'd rather avoid that whole mess.

Another thing that's been brought up is a dynamic sky with a day/night cycle. That simply work in UT2004, map lighting is "baked" in, so I chose a pretty time of day. Similarly, I won't be programming destructible blocks or making a crafting system. Mobs are also beyond the scope of this project, although I wouldn't mine seeing a few of them as invasion monsters. This is simply a standard UT2004 map with a Minecraft theme.


I'm looking for feedback about weapon placement and gameplay. At at this point I think I have the basic layout locked in, so I don't want to make any huge changes there. But definitely still open to suggestions. I do realize that the blocky style creates a lot of sharp edges, and it's easy to hit blocks while trying to strafe and shoot. I've tried to minimize the blockiness in the main gameplay area, partly by adding stairs and slabs that can be walked on like ramps, and also by minimizing the number of single blocks jutting out of the ground, and by treating them as platforms. This issues is inherent with this theme, but I'll do what I can about it. The main gameplay area is a bit small, I was going for a slightly larger than 1-on-1 size.

I'd say just make larger nearly-flat areas for WM's. Maybe a cave system. If the mountain area is included, add pickups there and a walking area or a wide beach around it. Once you finish the edges of the island, this should fix some size problems depending how much leeway you give the beach. Lastly, it would be cool if you had distant lands in view (3d untouchable stuff or baked skybox stuff . . . maybe even a fog effect like in minecraft).

I had a hard time finding weapons in DM, though I haven't played the map before. Even so, it isn't obvious where weapons are. That could be something to look into.

Have a bit of a progress update to share on UTCRAFT. I made custom meshes for all of the standard pickups and bases except ammo.

I've also done some layout work, including a new underground passage and a beach area. In addition, I've simplified some of the terrain and added more stairs in the map. No download and not on the server just yet, since I'm still working on the beach sections around the island. I'm also considering removing the rear hill section, or at least making it a lot smaller.


Click for full size:

Looking good.

Put out a new update of UTCRAFT today. Added a bunch of new stuff, including custom pickups, new areas and secrets. It's now on the server, but you won't have the music for it unless you download it here:

https://forums.epicgames.com/threads/987718

(The music files from the old version have been updated to a higher volume, and the map now uses a new default track.)