The 'X' of Unreal Tournament:
The essence or 'X' of Unreal Tournament is to complete the objective, scoring points to win the game.
research on top of this, listing everything in the game, including weapons, game modes, in game elements and more, note some game types are only playable on some maps, others on other maps..
My research is to be finalised by the week after half term, ready for the map planning to begin.
I have been tasked with properly researching and breaking down unreal tournament into its core elements, for this I will need to consider multiple things including the visual appeal of the game, the game style and the logic behind it.
To begin breaking the game down, I jumped into a basic game within Unreal Tournament and began assessing my surroundings, trying to figure out what the 'X' of the game actually is, the X being the reason, or the point in actually playing Unreal Tournament.
Having played many other first person shooter type games in the past, I figured the X would be easily defined and it was, from 5-10 minutes gameplay I had figured that the X of the game is as follows;
- Complete the objective.
- Score points.
- Win the game.
As with any first person shooter, the main aim is to complete a given objective, this varies from game mode to game mode and can be simply shooting target players or capturing a given flag or location for example, performing the actions required by the objective accrues points for the player or the player's team, improving the player or team's chances of winning the game.
This I feel, as with many other shooters, is the 'X' of the game.
The basic elements of a Videogame:
There are four basic elements to a videogame, these are Mechanics, Story, Aesthetics and Technology. Whilst there are generally no story type elements to Unreal Tournament, there are some integrated into certain Titles across platforms.
Whilst all four elements are equally important, the other three elements are present in multiplayer, which is my destination through this project, I will be researching the Aesthetics and Mechanics through this unit.
Aesthetics:
From a visual standpoint, Unreal Tournament has always been at its core, sci-fi styled game with some alternately themed levels appearing throughout, over the years these themes have been replicated many times with other titles, with the modern adaptation of the game however, the style has significantly changed thematically.
There are now multiple different types of level, taking advantage of the new level structuring system, allowing aspiring developers to create maps for the game, developing into full playable releases.
The Aesthetics as such, with the power of the current hardware, can vary a lot, as I have seen with the visual differences between maps like CTF-Volcano, DM-Chill and CTF-Lance.
Mechanics:
The core gameplay mechanics within Unreal Tournament have remained at their core, very similar throughout its lifespan, adapting with more modern hardware and making use of multiple developments in capabilities.
At it's core, the mechanics are as simple as running and shooting, whilst collecting power ups, benefiting the player by extending their health and or armour values.
The more recent iteration of Unreal Tournament however, has seen wall-running and wall-jumping added in to add more varied types of movement, in an effort to keep up to date with other titles and the movement methods within.
These animations, like wall running and sliding is also an example of community based developments, with the animations and mechanic overall being developed by community members and not developers in the Epic team.
The History of Unreal Tournament:
I would like to say Unreal tournament has come a long way since the inception of Unreal in 1998, but it is actually the engine itself on which Unreal is developed which has come a long way.
With massive improvements in both quality and quantity of in-engine features, a developer, with the right knowledge can make virtually any game they can visualise.
The main elements of the game which have progressed with time are the weapons, power-ups and in-game movements, the rest of the core functions have stayed largely the same, as can be seen by playing any of the games released in the Unreal franchise.
Unreal Community:
Demographics:
Demographics vary massively from game to game, and are defined as simply, "who plays a videogame", this can be based on gender, religion, age, and multiple other factors, but most often comes down to age and gender.
Referring to the entertainment Software Association's (ESA) 'essential facts' documentation for 2015, it is easy to see just how large an impact video games now have on society, with 155 million americans playing video games. An average of 2 people per household play and 4 of every 5 houses contains a console to play video games.
(http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf)
As games have progressed through generations, so have the people playing, meaning as people grow older and still play games, the average age of a gamer rises, to a level at which the average gamer is currently 35 years old.
This shows that whilst there are still a large proportion of children playing video games, older people still enjoy video games.
There has also been a huge balancing out over the years in the number of females playing games alongside males, with females now taking up 44% of the 155 million.
Along with the rise of female gamers, has come the rise of smartphone based games, whilst there are a large number of women who play games on a PC or console, there are also a larger number of women then men who play social or puzzle games via a smartphone.
Action games by stereotype have always been aimed at a more male dominant audience, and whilst this has changed significantly in recent years with the evolution of titles such as Tomb Raider, it still shows in more simplistic action based games in the First Person Shooter genre.
The shooter genre, at it's core, has always stereotypically been aimed at teenage boys, through to 30+ men, with a war-based selling point being that of a Neanderthal instinct, hunt prey, kill, win.
This is the same for any first or third-person perspective based shooter, and will be for some time to come.
As such, bearing this in mind, the Unreal franchise has always maintained a highly male dominated audience, and this does not look likely to change an awful lot in the near future.
As such, the map for which I will be proposing creation, will be aimed toward the male demographic, though this is not to say females would not play my map.
Community Maps:
With Unreal Tournament 2015, came the introduction of community made maps, this is of huge benefit to not only the developers of Unreal themselves, but the players alike, as the real-time development and ability to view work in progress maps acts as inspiration for other aspiring map designers, like myself.
The maps that have been designed so far, are far and away from the original sci-fi roots of Unreal Tournament, which provides with a much wider, more diverse array of map types and themes for play, expanding players' experiences indefinitely.
Unreal Marketplace;
The unreal marketplace has been put in place with Unreal Engine 4 and Unreal Tournament 2015, which allows players and developers to buy and sell assets, there are even some free assets for use by aspiring developers.
These can then be used in the design of either personal projects or Unreal Tournament maps, developed by the community for play by the community.
Unreal Features:
Weapons:
As with any first person shooter, weapons, and more specifically guns with regards Unreal Tournament are the primary equippable item, some guns have been a mainstay in the series from Unreal in 1998 forward, such as the Enforcer pistol, whereas some others have only been more recently introduced, the weapon list as it currently stands includes various single fire and fully automatic weapons ranging from pistols, to assault rifles, rocket launcher and even a power up based nuclear missile launcher called The Redeemer, which can cause devastation damage to any enemy within its blast radius.
Power-Ups:
The power-ups within unreal, much like the weapons, have developed over time, granting such abilities as extra damage, extra armour and invincibility to name a few.
Whilst they have developed visually in terms of the physical mesh the player must make contact with in order to pick up, they maintain the same core values and effects to the player possessing them.
Game Modes:
Unreal Tournament, much like the many other classic shooters that have come before it, runs on a set of core game modes, and utilises the power ups and weapon pickups to make these maps as fun as any other shooter on the market.
The game modes within Unreal are as follows;
Teamplay;
Showdown;
Showdown is a mode for the more hardcore contingent of Unreal's player base, as it is a 3-on-3, first to 5 rounds firefight,
Capture the Flag;
Capture the Flag is a 20 minute, timed objective based game mode. It runs ten minutes a half with 7 players on each team, and the objective is to defend your teams flag, whilst obtaining and securing the enemy flag.
Big CTF;
Big CTF is another iteration of Capture The Flag, it runs the exact same as the standard variant, only with 20 players in total as opposed to 14.
Competitive CTF;
Competitive CTF is another variant of Capture the Flag, with 10 players instead of the standard 14 players.
Team Deathmatch;
Team deathmatch is a staple of every shooter in the modern ear of gaming, Unreal's take on Team Deathmatch consists of 14 people again, with a 20 minute time cap, the objective of this game mode is to simply gain points, via killing the enemy team.
DeathMatch:
Deathmatch;
Deathmatch is the standard free-for-all mode which is another staple of any shooter. this consists of 8 players, fighting to a points target via killing the opposition.
Big Deathmatch;
Big Deathmatch is, as Big Capture The Flag, a deathmatch mode with a larger number of players in the same map at one time. In this case, the amount of players present is 16 and it runs on the same 10 minute timer as standard Deathmatch.
Duel;
Duel is a 1 on 1 deathmatch mode, much like Showdown, with no mercy rule and a ten minute timer in place.
Duel Showdown;
Duel showdown is a 1 on 1 'new school' showdown running on duel rules, running 2 minute rounds.
Instagib:
The are instagib modes for each of the following modes;
- Deathmatch
- Team Deathmatch
- Capture the Flag
- Translocator Capture the Flag
- Low Gravity Capture the Flag
In all of these game mode, 'instagib' is a one shot one kill modifier, which makes every player extremely vulnerable to damage, dying from the impact of one bullet.
There are also Custom Match creation options within Unreal, encompassing all of these game modes.
Environments:
The environments within Unreal have become more interactive over the years and have gone from simple kill volumes to fully interactive death traps. For example, a community map in development currently for Capture The Flag has a water volume, with a spinning fan at the top controlled by a button on the outside, this allows users to trap other players cunningly and kill them to stop them stealing their teams' flag.
I am personally intending on inserting an environmental hazard into my level, with the idea being a Steel mill, I could quite easily implement a feature in which multiple steel containers move across the map on a conveyor and tip at a point, spilling molten steel onto the playable area below, killing any players within proximity of the steel.
