THE MAP

Map name: Cryo City
File name: CTF-Cryocity.unr
Game mode: Capture The Flag
Ideal player count #1: 4 (1 defending, 3 attacking)
Ideal player count #2: 5 (2 defending, 3 attacking)
Ideal player count #3: 6 (2 defending, 4 attacking)


THE AUTHOR AND HIS EMAIL

Author: Raimond *Dutchrai* Kuhlman
Email: Dutchrai@yahoo.com


DESIGN STUFF

Designed for: Unreal Tournament
Designed with: UnrealEd 2
Development time: 14 days (6 for graphic design and 8 for the enhanced bot navigation network)
Based on: Well, lets just say I had a dream (duh)
Location: Made In Holland


HOW TO INSTALL

To install this map, simply extract CTF-Cryocity.unr to the Maps folder, which can be found in the installation folder of Unreal Tournament (normally C:\Unreal Tournament).


SO WHAT IS CRYO CITY?

This Capture The Flag level for Unreal Tournament is basically composed out of two islands, which are connected by a double parallel bridge with a connection halfway between. On each island you will find a base which is designed like a free-concept castle or fort, with vertical and diagonal walls and towers. At each end of the bridge there is a half-buried turret, enabling any player in there to unleash hell all over the bridge. Plenty of sniping opportunities exist due to the two towers per base and the ability to go on any roof, ledge or chimney.
The whole setting is based in the middle of a cryogenic sea, with a midnight full-moon to set the atmosphere. And for your own safety, please take note that swimming at this location might be hazardous to your health.


SUPPORTED GAME MODES

Only Capture The Flag is supported really, since the stretched symmetrical layout of the level only suits this type of game. Of course you can always copy the level to DM-Cryocity.unr for a game of Deathmatch, but will it be fun? You decide.


POWER TO THE BOTS!

Since I don't like to play online too much because of the always present internet lag and costs and UT online problems, I prefer to play against bots. And since I still want to have some serious and interesting opponents I spend more time designing, enhancing, playtesting and perfecting the bot navigation network than designing the actual graphical part of the level.

As a result you will find bots jumping or impactjumping from rooftop to rooftop and translocating almost anywhere, sometimes going places you wouldn't think of, taking the best sniping and ambush points, and they won't get stuck anywhere.

To make it worse for you and the enemy, I've included triggered distanceview information for sniping, anti-sniping and assaulting bots. For example, when an enemy assault is launched against your base the opponent bots will try and take out your snipers the moment they go for a raid on your precious flag, but in turn your snipers will focus on taking out the assault force and its supporting snipers. This is precisely what should happen when you play with a human team. If an opponent still manages to break through your formidable defense tactics and grabs your flag, snipers in your towers will focus on the retreating force to assist your team members in the flag-recovery. You almost can't tell you're playing against bots!

Side effect of all this built-in bot intelligence though is that you will be required to develop some sort of strategic plan if you want to be successful, although the easy workaround is to set the bot AI level a little below your usual setting (this great tip comes free of any charge). However, If you think you're really good try putting the bot AI in Inhuman or Godlike mode, and use 6 players per team. Before you do this just make sure you have a decent life-insurance policy, which covers being killed over and over again.


LET THERE BE GAMEPLAY

To speed up gameplay I have avoided lifts where possible (only the turret has one, but it's fast) and used cool jumppads and transporters instead. A special touch are the twin low-gravity-pads in the middle of the bridge, just run at them, and when at the end...make a leap of faith.

On playerstart a rocketlauncher will be picked up by default, in mid-air that is while using a jumppad to get into the base. A couple of rocketcans and other goodies are nearby too, so when killed you won't have to spend the evening loading yourself again.

Of course there is also health, armor, powerups, ammo and other weapons. The mother of all weapons is out there too, although you might have to look for it a bit. All weapons and ammo (except for the redeemer (60 seconds) and the rocketlauncher (instant)), will respawn in 10 seconds since I found the default 30 seconds to be way too slow. If this is not fast enough for you then you can always overrule this and activate instant respawn (recommended for CTF games anyway).

As for sniping, the paragraph on bots (see above) describes this in detail. So order your bots to defend the base and/or take a nice position yourself, and you can teach your opponent a few lessons in long distance headshots.


ZONE DESCRIPTORS

This map has detailed zone descriptors, which opens possibilities for more active team management. So when you press F1 for a status overview you won't just get 'Red Base' for a player's location, but an accurate description of where exactly in the base. You can check out the cool CTF-Cryocity-Zones.jpg file for a nice graphical overview of all zones (18 per base and 2 neutral, making 38 in total) so you can use it to your tactical advantage.

You can also use this zone info to send bots straight to a location, and when they have a sniping opportunity there they will take position as well.

Below the complete list of all zone names:

Red Base:
Red Outdoors, Red Playerstart, Red Promenade, Red Flag, Red Entry, Red Stairs, Red Jumpboots, Red Tower Low, Red Thighpads, Red Shieldbelt, Red Tower High, Red Armor, Red Chimneyroof, Red Chimney, Red Redeemer, Red Turret, Red Bridge and Red Gravityjump

Blue Base:
Blue Outdoors, Blue Playerstart, Blue Promenade, Blue Flag, Blue Entry, Blue Stairs, Blue Jumpboots, Blue Tower Low, Blue Thighpads, Blue Shieldbelt, Blue Tower High, Blue Armor, Blue Chimneyroof, Blue Chimney, Blue Redeemer, Blue Turret, Blue Bridge and Blue Gravityjump.

Neutral:
Mid Bridge and Outdoors (which is anywhere else)


NOISE (ALSO KNOWN AS AUDIO)

The Flag rooms are larger and higher then any other room in the base, and have been given a cool 'echo' effect, which can be heard when you have a soundcard supporting this feature (the SoundBlaster Live for example). Taking the architecture into account this small detail has a very realistic effect.

Other sound effects like outdoor winds and drafts have been included, as well as a few other things too.

A cool background beat from the original Unreal Tournament game is there to complete it all, as long as you have music enabled of course.


THOSE NASTY BUGS

None that I know of, if I don't count the Unreal D3D problems that also tease their own levels (like viewing from a long distance...parts of walls tend to be left away sometimes).


MORE STUFF LIKE THIS

In the unlikely event you actually like this level, you might wanna try out others made by me. All levels are downloadable from Nali City (http://www.planetunreal.com/nalicity), the number after the level name is the rating after Nali City review.

Unreal: DM-Agonizer (10), DM-Aristopolis (9)
Unreal Tournament: DM-Asgoroth (new map, not rated yet)

Because of quite a few request of players to convert DM-Agonizer to Unreal Tournament, I have put it on my 'to do' list. The level will be called (take a guess)...DM-Agonizer][


COPYRIGHT NOTICE

As usual you are quite welcome to make this map available for download on the internet or publish it otherwise, as long as it will be available for free and all supporting files (being this text file and the CTF-Cryocity-Zones.jpg file) will be included as well. You cannot use this map as a basis for map development or modify and publish it without written permission from the author.


AND THE CREDITS GO TO...

First of all the EPIC team for creating Unreal and Unreal Tournament, especially its awesome engine and editor.

Special thanks go to Carsten van Stam, who has given this map a thorough Beta test.

And of course I thank you, the gamer, for playing it. There wouldn't be much point in creating a level if nobody played it in the first place (ok, so maybe a very small point since I play it myself).
