Tony Kramer's Portfolio

At Ohio State University I took a class simply to learn Maya and not only how to model, but UV map and texture as well.  Maya has become a very good tool to use as it allows a greater level of detail than a simple level editor.  The following are personal projects and school work done in Maya.

A Modscon contest winner (www.modsonline.com) map that won best map out of all single player and multi player maps in one category.  Based on two old factories is your strogg vs marine capture the flag scenario.  I liked making this map mostly because the ability to use dynamic lights everywhere while trying to keep a reasonable frame rate.  This became difficult when you get into the open areas that are in each base.  To keep my framerate down I had to use extensive normal maps to give the illusion of 3D on a 2D surface.  This isn't too hard since the engine seems to rely on texture and their counterpart for lighting and bumps than an engine that is more polygon reliant like the Call of Duty series.  To add the portals so this room only showed itself, I had to snake the hallways that connect to it so there was no angle you could see into another significant room in the map.  This also allowed me to give attention to detail in the hallways but most importantly I was able to detail the flag room and the factory floor without having to worry about rendering each room at the same time.
    Initially I was going to make a bridge out on the mars surface connect the two factories but as the deadline approached and with the planned layout, this would have become difficult.  I needed too many objects and surfaces to keep a reliable frame rate and meet the deadline.  The biggest reason for this was the construction of the factory exterior that would have taken the most time and the most frames.  I then decided to make a tunnel, easy to portal, requires less construction, and was open to lighting at my discretion rather than requiring an ambient light if I made the bridge.

    I am currently working with a friend to make a single player Doom III map together.  We are making diffrent sections and will connect them with a teleporter.  Since we decided to teleport the player we dont have to worry too much about themes matching except along with the story.  My part of the map is Hell's half.  The player teleports down into hell into a map that seems to be in space.  The player will have to manuver across land masses with diffrent challenges then get to the biggest one where stands a church taken by demons.  Pentagons, blood oozing from the bricks, where bricks have fallen resides movign flesh, and a bit of destruction.  This is the final part of the map and will have the demons come the way I like doing best, waves.  First spawn the easy groups and when one dies another spawns but is a little harder.  This has amazing potential to be fun as the demons don't stop, however this has many barriers as well.  Health, how much is enough?  I want the player to have enough to survive but too little and the player gets frustrated, too much and the player doesn't start to panic a little.  I want the player to get a little panicy, then always have a way out, and to breath a sigh of relief once its over.  Same rules go with ammo but this I can limit to what weapons, a lot of ammo for the smaller weapons but small amounts for the "Big Guns".
    This map is a Work In Progress and I will post pictures as sections are finished.

After acquiring the beta tools I quick went to work creating a custom COD4 map.  It is now the first complete and released custom map for COD4 and has been play tested thoroughly to ensure smooth game play.  The map is completely inside and has some light, some people may find night vision useful for a first time in multi player.

    Ever since the editor was released for Call of Duty 2 I have been making maps for the modification "Unbound Forces", www.unboundforces.com.  First I started on an old urban map with mostly brick and concrete.  This map took so long because I started to make custom textures and implemented extra sound for some added ambiance.  I enjoyed working on this map the most because I never made a modern city before and had plenty of room to explore possibilities.
    Next was a large office building, stories above Ambassador City, our fictional city.  Out of all the maps for Unbound forces, this was the longest and most painful one to make but also the most rewarding when it was done.  It is very difficult to get a good game play flow when you have stories on top of each other, one of the very few times I hope make a vertical map.  A few staircases and elevators with specific control points made it happen but the floors had to work together too.  There always has to be a away around the enemy so thats why I added the elevator shafts and a ventilation system between two floors.  The best part of this map was portaling it was a breeze, maybe 6 portals in all and rarely could you see between the next floor up or down.  This left plenty of room for detail and/or complexity while maintaining a simple floor plan.  One feature I wanted to add was falling to your death since the map takes place about 20 stories above the street and yes, you can fall all 20 stories inside and outside.
    At last is the Ambassador City subway.  This map is set in the winter and is completely indoors.  The only way you can tell it's winter is when you are in the main lobby on the ground level, snow is on the windows and road.  This is one of my smaller maps but don't underestimate, it is still a large map and I feel I have brought out the best in the normal and specular maps.  The "sun" is at an angle that reflects slightly on the walls but mostly directs itself on the floor giving it a feeling that not everything is flat and casts shadows on my normal maps.  When the light is slightly on the walls it is highlighting the top of the normal map which beings out the brick a noticeable amount but its not drastic.  This map consists of the lobby, three sub-rooms, two landings or stations, and an underground portion connecting the stations.  This map has been by far the most pleasurable to work on.
    More maps to come and I will show pictures when I have something to present.

    Although old technology, this is where I got my first start in mapping.  I won't elaborate a lot on these but I feel they must be mentioned.  First was "Hill Assault", the Germans spawn in their base upon a small mountain and the allies spawn all around the base and attack in full 360 degrees.  Next came "Church" where the Germans have to defend a rather large church and the allies spawn in a little town and must attack either above or below ground.  Much of the church contains exploders and the door is big enough for one of many tanks to enter.  After this came "Rittergut 2", a small Russian industrial town, the Germans spawn at one end of the street while the allies spawn at the other end and rapidly filter into the town.  Most building you can enter and although this was map was popular in itself, it became even more well known after some friends discovered an unintentional ramp that you could get a jeep into the second floor of the building.  Normally I would consider this a bug but it did give a slight advantage at the price of getting it up there while greatly exposed.  In the end I think it added to the replay of the map.  You can see what the player would have to do in the first picture below.  Finally came "Crypts", as the title states you are in the catacombs and you fight through the brick walls or the dirt tunnels.  I was designing "Crypts 2" to be more detailed and in depth but about fifty hours of work was lost and I moved onto Unbound Forces.