Saracen and Asylum: A history blog - 5amura1

This blog is about the two maps I made for the Unreal Series since Unreal Tournament 1999 and their future.

DM-Saracen

Saracen is a Deathmatch Arena that has been put in almost every Unreal Tournament game made, I first started map planning since Unreal Tournament 3 was released back in 2007, back then I had a laptop that was so weak that map testing was not possible at the time, in 2010 I think it was, is when I started making the map in Unreal Editor 2.0, the one for UT99, I never used the Unreal Editor 2.0 or 3.0 at the time, I only knew how to use the editor for UT3.
Saracen in each version of the engine has been different, in Unreal Tournament, Saracen is a Nali theme level located on an unknown planet made of lava, there are three suns, you may see two because one is blocked by a floating city in the skybox, it is not an easy level to move around because of the small floor, even I fall of alot, over the engines, the platforms have changed, in UT2004 they were big so falling off in the UT2004 version can only be done purposely, in UT3, I decided to change the platforms back to small.

Saracen II is the UT2004 version, being completely different in both, style and layout, it is much more larger too, it was made as a japanese theme map with and was given a style to fit with the style and feel for Unreal Tournament 2004, it still has the dark gritty feel but more it is not as popular as the Unreal Engine 1 version.

Saracen in Unreal Tournament III, the current version is the combination of the previous versions from the older games, it has been given a japanese theme and a similar layout to that of the Unreal Tournament version, but has its own unique layout at the same time, so although it is different, it is the same.

The Future of Saracen is not clear but plans for it to return in the Unreal Engine 4 is in motion, it was planned for the UDK but me and my team scrapped the plans because it would not be the same.

DM-Asylum

Asylum is a Deathmatch Arena seen in almost every Unreal Tournament game, I first made this map in Unreal Tournament, this map is a simple build map but took minute 2 hours to build in UT99, 15 minutes in UT2004 and about 30 minutes or more in UT3, it is set as a old mental asylum in the mountains in every version, more of a monastery in UT3.

There is not much to say about each version, all versions are all the same layout except each one has been given new styles, in UT99, there was a goo area and a Lava area, in UT2004 the Goo area was made different as it has been replaced as a lava room instead, also the balcony in the courtyard has changed too, in UT3, both the Goo Room and Lava Room have been cut completely, the 'Goo' Room is inaccessible and the 'Lava' Room is no an outdoor balcony, the courtyard balcony remains the same as it was in UT2004 and also the windows in the upper hallways have been brought back from UT99.

The future of Asylum is not clear but plans for it to return in the Unreal Engine 4 is in motion, plans for it to be made in the UDK are still in consideration but it is unclear.