Welcome to
Pawns 2021
The 20th Anniversary Edition
by
Jeff Martin
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J's Maps for Unreal and Unreal Tournament DM, Team, and CTF. jm@islandalien.com www.islandalien.com/unreal |
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Pawns for Unreal 2001 is the first 3D video game level I ever made, and is based on a chess set my grandmother gave me when I was in eighth grade.
It was intended to be a two player map. Mono on mono, duel at high noon kind of theme, but also makes for a good Team and Capture the Flag since the map is so symmetrical and evenly balanced. It was heavily influenced by other "giant" maps (oversized familiar environments that render the player down to the size of about 1 or 2 inches tall) like John Falgate's "Breakfast", and Lucas Ellis's "Bathroom" maps. I wanted to make a giant map where the players could travel around the board by riding on the chess pieces. The original map uses only 3 colors. Because I found that chess pieces using pure white or pure black textures turn out looking too artificial, plastic and fake. Instead, I used dark brown stone for the black pieces and light tan stone for the white pieces. To add a little more content to the map I decided that one player would be a smoker and one player would be a drinker. (the whole fire and water, ying yang thing). One side of the board has a coffee cup and spoon, the other side has a pack of cigarettes and an ash tray. There is also an observation - VIP room intended for anyone who just wants to watch the game, relax and not get fragged every 5 seconds. Chess is a game that everyone around the world recognizes. They may not know the rules but they know what it is. Everybody's design of a chess board is slightly different and can be interpreted in any number of ways This makes it a perfect rookie's choice (pardon the pun) for a first-map challenge. |
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Pawns 2021 "Prime" is a full blown 3D CTF map.
Normally I don't like to use teleporters or reduced gravity in a map (the lazy architect's solution) but in this case it was one of the only practical ways to ensure that players could jump from one level to another without taking damage and the Bots could get from one flag to another. It works, but they don't exactly like it. This map is built to LOOK COOL first and foremost. Those pesky little prerequisites like "logic", "performance" and "game flow" come second. This map is slightly different from the standard "Vulcan" three dimensional chess set because having 2 attack boards for each side just didn't look right. The single centered attack board gives it more of a sleek streamlined silhouette. The funny thing is, no one to this day agrees on the exact rules of Vulcan chess so a few artistic liberties are completely acceptable. This is a much smaller scale chess set from the original and is best suited for 2 to 6 players. Because this map is meant to be set in the future, all inventory items are limited to energy based pickups only. Yes, in honor of the original, this map has a secret VIP observation deck containing a health pick up (the only one in the map) and some binoculars (the rifle scope) allowing for a close up view of the action below. This map again, pays honor to all the other previous Chess maps and their authors I could find that came before it. (See below). The Star Trek theme was chosen because this is where I first saw a Vulcan 3D chess set, and the series Star Trek Discovery is timed perfectly for an updated version of the original Pawns. Don't worry. If you fall off the edge, you will be teleported back to the exact middle of the board. |
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Pawns 2021 the 2D version is a lot more fun to play. It's a much larger map and offers a wider range of motion, hiding places and inventory pick ups. It can easily hold up to a dozen or more players. It also contains the same safe guards as the 3D version. If you fall off the board it won't kill you BUT you will have to spend 10 seconds in the Penalty Box. You cannot be damaged in the penalty box, but everyone on the board will know EXACTLY where you are when the penalty is lifted. |
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DmPawns 2021 is for the original Unreal '98 version for Deathmatch and Team games. It uses only default textures and sound files. Because Unreal doesn't handle transparent textures as well as UT, (you cannot see transparent textures through other transparent textures - they appear invisible) I had to use opaque textures for the 3D Vulcan chess version. |
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Pawns 2021 Unreal Style. How to make an Unreal Style chess set? Start with a metal box. Open the Properties menu and change the default Display\Mesh to "LodMesh.Unreali.SkQueen" (or whatever ScriptedPawn class you decide to use). Change CollisionHeight and Radius accordingly. Change the colors (if you want) in Display\MultiSkins[ ] A very simple and easy method to make your own Unreal chess map using any combination of characters, monsters and "bugs" from the game. 
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Pawns 2021 "Jeff Style" begins with a set of custom chess pieces I made from scratch then converted to Unreal mesh files using Mychaeel mychaeel@planetunreal.com's excellent MeshMaker.exe utility. The result is a much smoother more rounded 3D model, except without any drop outs, lighting issues, or movers that don't quite work as well as you'd hoped for. These mesh files are self lit, always display properly and really are about the only way to make movers that don't have drop-outs or lighting issues. All main pieces are movers and execute their legal chess moves. Crazy Horse WQK (the Pegasus piece) offers a scenic tour of the entire chess board. Add a bunch of bots to this map and the chess pieces go crazy. This is probably my favorite most fun version of all the Pawns 2021 maps. |
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Pawns 2041 is a tribute to tomorrow's mappers. It serves as a type of time capsule. It's what Pawns might look like in another 20 years from now. Since I wont be around then, this map 'from the future' is the 40th anniversary edition. Thanks for playing J's maps. --Jeff |
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