UDK LEVEL: PLAYTESTING

      I finally got to play-test my UDK Level with real life players! I hosted my server and 11 players joined. The results were great, but as expected, I found some issues brought up by friend mid-play, hilarious ones at that.  Some were game breakers that could be exploited, and some where spoil inconsistencies in the map.

PLAYERS COULDN'T GET DOWN FROM THE SNIPER TOWERS - The jump pads are too confusing, so in order to make things sniping a little easier and less taxing. I shall learn how to implement teleporters in UDK and place two for each tower - one for the tower room and one for the second floor of the large structures.

TEXTURES MISSING AROUND THE MAP - Mid-play, many players told me a texture was missing. I've written them down and will simply fix them. In fact, I may even change up the textures altogether to make the map a little prettier.

PLAYERS FOUND THE MAP CONFUSING - A concern I shared throughout the development process. Its perfectly symmetrical, therefore it's incredibly hard to know which side is which. Especially considering there is absolutely nothing to distinguish both from one another. Either I will add some coloured lighting into the mix (which will also facilitate other game modes) or I'll modify the structures. 

INVISIBLE FLOATING PATHWAYS - At one side of the bridge, an invisible path leads upward towards one of the large structures  Although funny, it meant one of the players could exploit it - they could shoot through it but none of the other player could, putting them at a disadvantage.

BOUNCE PAD LOOKS UGLY - The large bounce pad that caused confusion for the sniper towers are so large they have bugged out. Because of this, it looks ugly. Fortunately, I am replacing them in favour for the teleporting points.

INVISIBLE WALLS - My tutor (also play testing my level) found that the second floor of the large structures has an invisible wall, meaning players couldn't and can't get down from the room unless they use the stairs. I have no idea why this is, probably another resultant of constant extrusion from one brush or interconnecting verts. I'll have to investigate this.

PLAYER NOT DYING FROM LARGE FALLS - The main pit in the middle of the map was supposed to be the balance for risk and reward when it came to the vehicle and UDamage. Players are supposed to fall and die if they miscalculate the jump. The problem was and is, that players didn't die. They fell to the bottom and fell into the infinity space. An easy solution, will be to add a death zone to ensure automatic death.

     Overall, I think the play-testing went really well. Players enjoyed it and my level was given its fair share of compliments. However, it clearly has issues and although I am happy with it, I know it's far from perfect. The next step is to fix and polish these issues. Hopefully, with some success.

NEXT POST: UDK LEVEL (FIXING AND ADDITIONS)