During my free time while learning Unreal Engine, I got into VR development. One of my most successful projects was the process of converting and expanding a free Epic sample level from their high quality assets into a playable VR level for the published Pavlov VR mod, TTT (Trouble in Terrorist Town, combining basic “Among Us” gameplay with a Counter-Strike style setting).

I converted the lighting, materials, and assets to be optimized and playable at the much higher demands of VR, whereby each eye needs to be rendered, doubling the performance cost of all visual effects.

I was also able to contribute to the gameplay of the mod by adding my own custom scripting to the level. There is a creative use of lighting where players can shut-off the power, using static Lighting Channels in lieu of proper dynamic lighting support. Players could also activate a laser-powered scanning device that would automatically identify different player classes (if you could convince them to gather peaceably), and a reference to John Carpenter’s The Thing involving a corrupted frozen corpse that would instantly kill players who got too close. I also expanded the level with an outdoor area, blocking off gaps and alllowing players to climb on some assorted rocks. There is a teleporter-based tower that can take you up to a sniper’s roost opposite the main level’s biggest room, and sniper wars were frequent and fun, making sure the correct meshes allowed for collision or pass-through with proper glass effects.

Many fun shenanigans were had with public playtesting through the Pavlov community, and I updated the map frequently from February to November of 2020.

You can take a look, here!