*Note: I created the most of the tutorials using the Roboblitz and Gears of War editors. Based on the engine, and the version, some properties specified may be in slightly different locations than what is displayed in the screenshots.

If you need to learn how to create a basic map I would reccomend:
For UT99, UT2K3 & UT2K4: the Unreal Wiki.
For UT3: Waylon's Tutorials.



Common Interactives - Lift: Touch

I have set up a simple test map consisting of a slab of BSP, a skylight, a playerstart, a skydome, and a directional light.

I will only be using default editor assets which can be found in the EditorMeshes and EditorMaterials packages.

I will be using Movers/Interpactors (the terms are interchangeable) that are sometimes animated through Matinee. If you need to learn Matinee, I would recommend Hourences' Tutorial on them as a starting point.

I added the default mesh cube as a static mesh to the map, converted it to an interpactor, and then made it very thin vertically. The pivot is in the center and I will only animate it up and down.

*Note: Pivots/Origin points on StaticMeshes serve as the 'hinge points' for interpactors. If you need to create a door, or other moveable object that revolves, rotates, or swings on an edge, you'll need to be aware of the mesh's pivot/origin location. It is impossible to re-assign this pivot permanantly in the engine. For mesh placement, you can currently temporarily assign the pivot to a new location, but when you're done, the pivot will be back at the origin. If you find a mesh that you want to use as a swinging door, and its pivot is in the center, you are out of luck. The origin is determined when the mesh is created in a 3D Modeling application - not in the Unreal Editor.

Lift Activated by Touch: This kind of lift raises after a player walks onto it. I've set up a very simple system.

Let's use the 'Cooking' analogy I outlined in the Applications introduction to set this up:

1) What are we making?
A Lift that raises/lowers by touch.

2) Gather the ingredients:
Mover (lift)
Mover Event & Matinee

3) Put it together. In the level, I've created a wall with an indentation and placed the interpactor at the bottom of the indentation.




On the kismet side of things, I created a new 'Mover' Event based off the interpactor and left the 'StayOpenTime' at the default of 1.5 seconds.




4) Test it. Go in game and test it out. It worked fine for me.

5) Refine it. First, think about the collison and lighting and get those fixed. Then consider any potential issues. What happens if its lowering while the player is underneath it? Well, the default Mover settings in Kismet take care of this for us. The Hit Actor Event will change the direction of the lift and send it back up. Of course, you could change this to kill the player if you like. However, this is the time to also asign sounds to the lift. You can either do this through the interpactor's properties, or add 'PlaySound' actions triggered by events you add to the matinee.

6) Adjust it for Single/Multiplayer. As you may have read in the SinglePlayer/Co-op/MultiPlayer section, there are many considerations to take into account for whichever system you're setting this up for. The system as it stands I think would be ok for single-player and multiplayer both. But if you make any serious changes to it, you should still ask yourself some questions. What happens if two players are fighting on, around, or under it? Actually, it looks like that might be ok.