O.M.G.

Unreal Engine 5.3 Six Player Free for All

O.M.G. is a six player Free For All first person shooter with limited resource management to encourage more tactical gameplay

Project Spec.

  • 6 Players

  • Free For All deathmatch

  • Developed in Unreal Engine 5.3

  • Created over 14 weeks (currently 10 weeks in)

  • 4 person team (3 programmers, 1 designer)

Layout and Oxygen Towers

The core layout for this level revolves around one of the core mechanics in O.M.G, the oxygen system. Players lose oxygen while outside and must either go inside or to one of the temporary oxygen towers throughout the map in order to recover it. The buildings spread throughout the map create permanent recovery zones where players can restore their oxygen up to a certain percentage. Because of this, the buildings have to be spread out to create risk in going out with low oxygen while also being vulnerable enough to prevent camping.

The oxygen towers come down periodically throughout the match and each have three full oxygen tanks that can be used to fully restore a player’s oxygen. Each time an oxygen tower lands, it creates a hot zone where players want to fight more in order to acquire one of these tanks. Each tower location can only be landed at once until all of them have been used. This helps keep combat flowing throughout the map and encourages players to learn different routes and playstyles.

Roughly each corner of the map has a tower zone, and the center of the map has two. Having two tower spawns in the middle of the map creates more conflict in the middle of the map while also having a blocker through it to prevent people from trying to snipe the center from anywhere on the map. The buildings are positioned so that players can reach at least three towers with the amount that is left after refilling in a building so that players can always re-enter the fight.

Landscaping Tool

One of the key differences between this project and my previous multiplayer maps is how I use Unreal Engine’s features like the landscaping tool. I wanted to create a more natural landscape of sand dunes and rock faces combined with more unnatural components integrated into it.

I started by making the larger hills and the surrounding mountains and then went on to more detail areas. I designed the terrain to have easily accessible places for the oxygen towers to land with transitions from natural flowing hills and rougher rocky areas to ramps and flats with man-made cover.

I wanted to use the terrain for dynamic elevation changes during combat, so I also created small canyons between the buildings. These canyons are direct routes from one building to another, but they are also vulnerable to the hills around them. To create these interactions, I used the flatten tool to carve a path through the natural terrain and then used the smooth tool to create openings for players to access the surrounding hills.

Another way I used the landscaping toolset to create a more natural environment was through using the variety of erosion and weather tools to make certain areas rougher and more jagged. I used the ramp tool to design direct ways to the oxygen towers that contrast the rough terrain.