An Experimental Level

To improve my level design skills, I attempted smaller projects or single rooms, and tried to see what Jedi Knight was capable of. In one experiment, the beginning of a Single Player level, I designed a "fake" reflective surface for the hangar bay.
In order to get the effect, I simply had to create twice as many sectors, and make the floor translucent. Unfortunately, it's impossible to get reflections of moving characters in Jedi Knight, so the effect is slightly ruined. It also wouldn't be very good on framerate or very economical with game design, since you're building twice as much eye candy as you really need. ;-)

The Original "Proelium"

After editing for several months, I finally came up with something worth showcasing on Massassi. Proelium, as it was called, was a CTF map with jump-pads, scalding hot mercury pools, and huge conveyor belts that allowed a good player to bring the enemy flagbot back to base in seconds. This level was also my first SotD (Screen of the Day) at Massassi.


I still had a lot of lessons to learn in editing though. Since I was so new to editing, the level design was poor and eventually had to be scrapped because of too many errors and really bad gameplay. Ah well, back to the ol' drawing board. :-)

My First Attempts at Editing

Just a note before I continue: all of the levels I will be showing on this blog were designed in a freeware utility called JED, which is available for download at both The Massassi Temple and The JK Editing Hub. The program has a steep learning curve, but it is quite powerful once you get the hang of it.

These are some shots from the first "real" level I actually attempted (way back in spring of 2003), a single-player series called Brotherhood of Maw. I had originally planned a trilogy, but I never even got half-way through the first level. Typical of ambitious projects.

Looking back, it's just as well I stopped, because I would've been wasting my time - the level was terrible, and I had a long way to go before I was capable of something worthy of releasing.

What This Blog's About

Hello everyone (or perhaps no one in particular)! This blog, if you could call it that, is merely a collection of all my level editings for a nine year old game called Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. I have been editing the game as a hobby on and off since 2003, and have developed to the point where I actually have something to show for it. I have attempted a wide variety of levels and ideas, many of which remain unfinished, and some of which I am quite proud of. In the following posts I will be updating anyone who's interested on my past and current progress and sharing some of my ideas, inspiration, and background at the same time. I don't promise anything too elaborate, but for anyone who's ever been a fan of Star Wars, computer games, CG environments, or even architecture, it should be interesting, so stay tuned!