PlanetJailbreak

Jailbreak for UnrealTournament is still popular and thus some of our mappers decided to complete their unfinished maps before moving on to Jailbreak 2003. As a result, we are able to release the third Custom Map Pack for Jailbreak III today. The pack includes 12 maps of all kind, some brand-new and unique, others 'old' but enhanced and some conversions. Prepare to get fragged in a mysterious Skaarj outpost, avoid the thunderstorms on Jupiter, travel back in time to the 'Dark Age' or investigate a doomed storage facility.

So while you are waiting for Jailbreak 2003 to hit the scene, make sure to grab this pack and start playing over at our Jailbreak Server as these maps are in 'heavy rotation' at the moment.

Custom Map Pack #3 (18 MB) UMod Version and Zip Version (Epic Bonus Packs 3 and 4 required).

Make sure to have a look at the preview screenshots while downloading and feel free to add your comments about the map pack over in this forum thread.

Work on Jailbreak 2003 progresses, and we're now at a stage where all the features are in place for mappers to really get to work. So we're on the lookout for some mappers who'd like to try their hand at making something for Jailbreak. This doesn't necessarily mean joining the Jailbreak team and signing away your life and soul to Sexmachine; what we're thinking of here is "guest mappers" who might want to produce one original map, or maybe convert one of their existing custom maps to a Jailbreak version. If you don't have the time, you might want to just give the Jailbreak team permission to adapt one of your maps, and let our moose-trained team of mappers do the work.

We expect a fairly high standard of map, and if you're interested in actually joining the team as a mapper, we expect you to be able to work well with people and take constructive criticism. We also expect all potential mappers to take the time to check out Jailbreak III for Unreal Tournament, to get a feel for Jailbreak gameplay. The Jailbreak Developer Network has Jailbreak 2003 mapping docs and tutorials.

If you think this could be you, then drop by our IRC channel and talk to us about it.

The Jailbreak team is now working on alpha 6. Our list of things to do before we reach a feature-complete (ie beta) version is looking a lot shorter. Mychaeel has implemented a special interface for Jailbreak-specific mutators. These plug into a special Add-on architecture, and get their own tab in the UT2003 user interface.

In other news, it looks like NYGrrl will be returning as The Voice of Jailbreak, and here's an early preview of a new Spoondog map, JB-Castlebreak.

Breaking news: I've been asked to mention a Jailbreak III server: 66.208.105.4, password: str8.

It's back. Imagine the possibilities. Screen, Mychaeel's Unreal Tournament add-on component that did things you never thought were possible with scripted textures is back. The Jailbreak team has its mitts on an internal release of JBScreen for Jailbreak 2003. This will be bundled with Jailbreak 2003, just as Screen for UT was included with UT Jailbreak; and Mychaeel has hinted that it is the little brother of a future Screen 2003.

Here's a shot of one of the new features: 3-dimensional map display. 2-D maps are still available, and for those who pulled their hair out over the settings, Mychaeel adds: "I've also created (and bundled) a small Windows tool that helps mappers figure out the right values for 2D map surveillance screens (those dreaded coordinate settings, as you surely remember)." A player ranking display is in the pipeline too. Imagine the possibilities.