Gears of War - Operation Liberty Ch. 2 - "Cat and Mouse" update - 1/30

I found a tool that lets you export models from Google Sketchup to BSP in the Gears of War editor editor.  Pretty cool stuff, since Google Sketchup is super fast and easy to use compared to manual BSP editing.  Here is a guide on how to use it if any of you Gears of War mappers out there are interested.  Just use the UT3 export option.

This took about 3 hours of playing around after watching a few tutorial videos.  The rest will go much quicker now that I have a feel for it.  This area will also make a nice Lance map for the players who prefer bot maps over single player campaign style maps.

Click the image for the full size version

Tutorial: Pushable Cover in Gears of War - Part 1

This tutorial assumes you have a working knowledge of the Gears of War editor.  If you're just getting started, I recommend seeing some of the tutorial sites under the links section of this site.

One of the much neglected mechanics of the original Gears of War campaign, pushable cover is not only very simple to set up, but can have a variety of fun applications for those creative enough to spend some time with it.

This tutorial will cover the first of two different methods for setting up a pushable cover object.  Follow up tutorials will show a second method used via Matinee, then how to stop the cover from moving any further and disabling the push icon once the actor reaches a certain position, and lastly a few creative ways you can incorporate pushable cover into your maps.

Gears of War - Operation Liberty Ch. 2 - "Cat and Mouse" update - 1/26

I have spent the last week planning out the details of the second mission for Operation Liberty - Cat and Mouse (working title), and so far it's looking to be even more fun to play (and create) than Embry Station!

Thus far, I have drafted most of the level design document, drawn up a rough map, found all the appropriate dialog clips (which took about 8 hours total in and of itself), pared down the scope of the project to an achievable level (thankfully, this lays the most of the groundwork for part 3, which will save time down the road), and plotted out all the encounters and puzzles.

Here are a few things you can expect to see from this next map:

Milestone: Gears of War - Embry Station Released!

After many months of distractions (read: overtime hours at work & playing games) along with other projects (read: Archasis), the final coat of varnish has been applied, and Chapter 1 of Operation Liberty: Embry Station has been rolled out onto the showroom floor.

Download Embry Station Here