This project began as an assignment for my class in the Art Institute. The assignment asked for us to build a level in Unreal that had puzzles, some element of motivation for the player to move through the level, and a short simple design that could be completed in 10 weeks. A Weapon Development Lab has been abandoned by its scientists. Within the very walls of the lab is a genetic super giant, it’s arms and body fused into the the lab. It has been left for dead after years of forced experiments. You play the last security guard to leave the lab. As you enter the monster’s holding cell to lock up the final door, the monster awakens and all hell breaks loose as the door behind you stops working and his roar echoes through the air. But that‘s not the end of your bad luck... the only exit is at the base of the monster’s stomach. Now in order to escape the monster, you have to get closer towards it! The monster was built mostly in 3DSMax. Only the arms were built in Z-brush. This was my first time creating an Unreal ‘character’ so I decided against bone-rigging and went with matinee animation through Unreal’s kismet sequences, since the goal of the class was to get a better handling on UT3, and this was my first kismet experience.

Smaller assets were created during the level building, mostly to fill in the parts that the assets in Unreal couldn’t fill, such as the office chair or the single control panel that the player would come across over and over again throughout the level. The major obstacle in the level building process was basically my inexperience with UT3. Creating custom materials was a pretty big hill to climb, but learning kismet along with it? I was lucky in that I could ask for help from students around me. They became great help since they too were learning how to solve problems and impliment different effects. Through kismet matinees, the player would walk over kismet events that triggered different animations that the monster would take. From attacking to returning to its idle animation, the process was long and I know that there were many things that could have been more efficient and clean. In the end, I received an A and came out of the class with a whole new understanding of the Unreal Editor’s Materials editor and kismet system. It was a rich experience that led me to become a much more effective teacher for other students in my classes.

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