Unreal Level Design Tutorial

Welcome

Putting it all together

You've got three lovely maps there, this bit's optional, but it's great fun to put them all together. I'll give you the basics for how, but I'll leave it to your imagination as to how you'll get it all working together. If you want some ideas, check out my completed map - I've added in a few more extras and ended up with the tower sitting happily on top of the castle - a lift connecting the two once the alarm's turned off.

1. Export/Import

• Open up the map project with the castle in it.
• Select File -> Export and choose type .t3d.
• Do the same for the project with the tower in it.
• Importing's just as simple - File -> Import and choose 'in same map'.

2. Placing objects on the terrain

• I presume you've just opened up the terrain file, and imported the castle. Drag the castle to somewhere in the middle of the terrain, ideally somewhere quite flat. It's a good idea to have the castle door (and therefore, the tinted windows) facing the sun.
• Currently all you'll see is a blue outline of the castle, click 'build geometry' and you'll likely find it's too far above/below the ground.
• In 3D view click 'Front' and you'll get something like the below, use it to get your castle in approximately the right place:

• What you really, really need to be right is the castle door. Luckily for you, as a mover, it'll move in 'real time' as you drag things around in 3D view. It's useful to note that the blue lines representing the trim turn yellow if they're through the ground. Get your castle door lined up nicely (the bottom of the trim should touch the ground perfectly) and rebuild everything.

• Remember to delete the workroom for the castle once you're done, unless you want some very surreal effects. Remember also to remove any outside lights you might have added to the castle, (e.g., to see the door or windows better).
• Import the tower in much the same way - it intersects nicely with the corners of the castle, or you can even place it on top of the castle as I did to create a superstructure.
• Finally, add any finishing touches you want - maybe some trims where the castle meets the tower, obviously some way of reaching the tower(s) from the castle (yes - you can have multiple towers!) and I even got a bit excited and holes in the castle to let some light in. I created some nasty zags in the 2D shape editor, extruded to depth 16 along AXIS_Z (roof) and AXIS_Y(walls) and subtracted them from the castle perimiter walls. Below shows you how to add the tower at one of the sides, if that's what you'd like:

Hope you've had fun, that's it for now!