Bill Spencer

simple mecha

BIG ROBOT ENVIRONMENT for CUBE

MONSTER MACHINE

CUBE GUIDE

 BACK TO MAIN

HUGE MONSTERS HAVE INVADED

PILOT A MECH AND CLEAN UP THE CITY

Demon City

single player Simple Mecha map for Cube

map with new textures, sounds, and music/sonics

Download (354 KB)
Link only to this page, not the files.

NOTE: after playing, gamespeed must be reset to normal before playing other maps (or exit Cube) --
enter into console: gamespeed 100

Simple Mecha Environment

My interest in giant robot games doesn't involve a lot of complicated stuff. A larger scale and more mechanical feel, urban outdoor environments, and an open-war style of gameplay is the main interest. A more vehicle-like control scheme is desirable, but not possible in this case, but the basic FPS foot-soldier interface is even simpler. The use of the Cube engine completes the simplicity of this environment.

Scale is provided by representing large objects, and using textures created to match. Game speed is also adjusted to scale. Large things move faster, but not as much faster as the increase is size, so it's slower in original game scale. Large weapons also fire slower. The 66% normal gamespeed is a compromise between these various factors (update: the new framerate-independent physics are nice with even slower settings!). Full appreciation of the scale still requires some imagination, particularly if one is used to gaming in human scale (you could look at it as a miniature city, also). Approximate scale is 5-8 feet to one Cube unit; the player's mech is 2.5 to 3 stories tall (some scale variation is difficult to avoid). The development of cars on the roads was an important step in determining the scale.

The human grunt of jumping and landing was replaced to avoid ruining the effect.

The open environment is difficult with regards to performance -- there are no solid walls completely blocking large portions of the level from view. An important part is to use as many buildings made of wall solids as possible, with height controlled by the skybox. Features must also be kept simple. As the engine is not suited to creating small details anyway, visual detail must be built into the textures.

Since there is no player mech model, the environment is currently suited only to single player.

Developer's Notes

The SM environment is available for additional level development if anyone is interested. I'm not sure how much I made it to "show it was possible" and have no specific plans -- I have other levels to complete at this time, anyway. So if anyone wants to try their own take on the idea, map away. Development of additional media -- textures, models, etc. -- would also be good. My limited texture set was enough work for a single level!

My Demon City map may not be used as a base for additional levels unless substantially cleared, but it is acceptable to copy the intro boarding scene and use the .cfg as a base. The texture set is available (see text notes and .cfg comments). You may use the sm folder if appropriate.

Tips:
- Avoid using multiple textures on buildings if possible. Preferably, incorporate texture variations into a single large texture. Check wqd worst/typical as an indicator of performance.
- Texture alignment is complicated by large textures.
- Also due to alignment, the cars must be located at specific locations on the grid only. A 4x1 numbered texture is provided for experimentation with additional vehicles (note texture mirroring). The blue car is my original version, note the dual van/sedan functionality.

The end music (sounds) were tracked to .it format "mix loop" using MODPlug Tracker.