Overview: Aberton Space Station, a multiplayer deathmatch map for Unreal Tournament 3 is a remake of the classic DM17 Quake map. Aberton Space Station supports up to 16 players in both team and free for all deathmatch. Players can use teleports and jump pads to quickly traverse around the station. A floating platform hovers outside the station that provides sniping opportunities and low gravity combat. As a busy space station, trafficking space ships provide cover and a collision hazard while moving around the station. Poor timing makes unlucky players space road kill, with the deathmatch announcer letting all players know of the less fortunate.
Design Goals

• Remake of DM17
• Space Theme
• Space Roadkill

Development Time: 3 weeks (15 hours a week)

View of all 3 floors of the main playspace.  Jump pads provide quick navigation to all floors.

The iconic DM17 jump pad hub.  The Aberton hub has one extra jump pad.  A design goal for Aberton Space Station was keeping the classic feel of DM17 while standing apart from it.

Keeping with the theme of DM17 remake, jump pad pathways have floating health vials.

A space ship passing through the playing field.  A warning is displayed on all players’ screens followed by a warning sound as the ship passes through the zone.  A design goal was to accent the space station theme with an environmental hazard.  A passing ship creating road kill created reoccurring WOW moment and filling this design goal.

Taking the jump pads out to the floating platform lights up a pathway. This provides a non intrusive way of letting the player know where they are headed.  Also, professional players can notice the path light up and know that an enemy is coming their way.

Keeping up with the theme of all Unreal Tournament 3 maps, the non-playable area is grand and magnificent in scale.  The space station tower looms over the playing area as a futuristic arena stadium to view the deathmatch.  The towers arms rotate around the station providing life to what would have been a static background.

Scripting

Ship Roadkill

A dynamic physics volume is attached to the ship that patrols the space station. If any player touches the volume, they are instantly killed and gibbed into small pieces. The announcer states “Denied” and a warning message is displayed to all players about the dangers of passing ships.

Lit paths

The collision has been removed from the lighting meshes. When the player hits the trigger which is along the route of the jump pad, the lighting meshes are toggled to a visible state. The trigger is then disabled for a short period so that a second player in persuit of the first player cannot retoggle the lights.